A Flood of Kindness

Description

Perfect for all children experiencing loss or grief, A Flood of Kindness gracefully confronts difficult feelings and celebrates the healing power of kindness. "The night the river jumped its banks, everything changed." So begins A Flood of Kindness, a poignant picture book that addresses grief and loss and demonstrates how kindness can bring hope. Written in spare prose and told from an intimate first-person point of view, the story follows Charlotte, a young girl who watches floodwaters rise in her home and is forced to evacuate to a storm shelter with her parents. Kind people she doesn't know give her food, socks and shoes to keep her feet warm, and a place to sleep. As Charlotte adjusts to the shelter--a strange, crowded place that is not home--she grapples with feelings of anger and sadness. But as the days go by, Charlotte starts to realize how grateful she is for the things that she does have--her parents, a cot to sleep on, food to eat--and starts looking for ways to help others in the shelter. All children deal with sadness and loss in some way, whether it stems from a natural disaster, the death of a pet, or moving to a new place. A Flood of Kindness acknowledges those difficult feelings and helps readers process them in a healthy way. Children will be encouraged to be kind to those who need a friend and to help others in whatever way they can, no matter how small.

Ellen Leventhal has been writing for as long as she can remember. She is the co-author of Don't Eat the Bluebonnets, a 2017 Mighty Girls Book pick, and the author of Lola Can't Leap. Ellen is an active member of SCBWI, as well as a member of Julie Hedlund's 12x12 Picture Book Challenge. She lives in Houston, Texas, where she can be found working as an educator, wandering the aisles of bookstores, and doing school author visits. Blythe Russo holds a masters in illustration from the Savannah College of Art and Design. When she's not drawing, you can find her building puppets, playing Dungeons & Dragons, or in the kitchen on a never-ending quest for the perfect chocolate-chip cookie recipe. She lives just outside Cincinnati, Ohio.