Cara's Kindness by Kristi Yamaguchi

You've heard of paying it forward, haven't you?  Where you do something nice and then ask the person you helped to pass it on to someone else who needs help.  Cara has this down.

Source Books/Jabberwocky sent me an ARC of this book to read for review (thank you).  It has been published so you can grab a copy now.

This is a sweet little picture book that John Lee illustrated.  You can tell by the cover the animals are whimsical and big-eyed.

Cara the cat helps Darby the dog.  He's not sure about skating but she helps him out onto the floor and he finds out skating is fun!  She tells Darby to pass it on.

Darby is having lunch when he hears a polar bear cub's stomach growling on the other bench.  He offers to share his lunch.  The polar bear cub retrieves the monkey's ball in turn.  And on on it goes with everyone much, much happier than they were before.

The especially nice part is when the last one helped writes some music for Cara's routine.  She just couldn't find the right music but he did.

Here's a nice read that helps children see that being kind is a good thing.

It's a Big World, Little Pig by Kristi Yamaguchi

Who can forget Kristi Yamaguchi floating across the ice in figure skating competition?  She has innate grace and is a beautiful woman.  And her main character in this picture book is a little pig who can also skate...

Sourcebooks Jabberwocky and Net Galley allowed me to download an ebook of this story for review (thank you).  It will be available to purchase on the first of March, so add it to your TBR list.

The little pig is cute and loves to dress up and skate.  She does well enough to qualify for the World Games, but she's not sure she wants to go that far away.  Her parents encourage her and tell her to "dream big".  Poppy gets brave enough to go on.

This is a well written story that shows young ones how to overcome their fright when learning to make new friends and going to competition.  The illustrations are fun and Tim Bowers has a talent for making his animals likeable.

I think Ms. Yamaguchi is sharing some of thing she felt when she went to the Olympics in this story.  Why not share this story with your little one and then show them some of Kristi's figure skating?  Let your little one dream big, too!

Happy reading.