Punch!: A Story About Kindness

PreS-Gr 2–In Hall’s signature style of painted paper and digitally produced line art and shapes, an angry badger gets a lovingly delivered lesson on kindness from his friends. “Badger was looking for trouble.” He encounters his friends, Frog, Moose, Elephant, and Bear, and is mean to all of them by physically hurting them with a poke, jab, shove, and a trip. His friends devise a plan to teach Badger a lesson. When they retaliate with kindness (a glass of punch from Bear, for example), Badger turns his mood around and restores his relationship with his very forgiving friends. This simple tale will resonate with young children, who often have big emotions for reasons they cannot verbalize. Used in a classroom setting, this book makes for a powerful tale to help students express empathy for others, especially those children who are also in need of further development of their self-regulation skills.