Kind
Jess McGeachin
Allen & Unwin

‘In this book you’ll find / Many kinds of things / Some have slippery scales / Some have feathered wings. // But kind is more than type / Kind is how to care / For creatures that you meet / And places that we share.’ Thus begins the beautifully illustrated, rhyming narrative that urges readers to show kindness to all living creatures and to our precious planet.

Making each spread a joy to explore, the author takes us first on a tour of the animal kingdom and presents flutterers, weavers, animals with shells, fish, the horned, the waddlers, owls and more, including some of the most spectacular. Every creature illustrated is clearly labelled with its Western common name; and each kind has a four lined verse that reads aloud well: ‘ Be kind to those who glitter / In gold and blue and green / There’s treasure in the world / That sometimes goes unseen’.

Having presented us with that wealth of wonderful creatures, Jess McGeachin moves the kindness focus, first to the planets, particularly Earth, and finally having gone large, he comes back small to remind readers that we humans are part of nature and we need to treat other people kindly too.

It’s good to see the author’s carefully considered afterword includes recognition that many of the animals depicted have names in the languages of the First Peoples who shared the land with them.
This is a book to add to family shelves and primary school collections.