The best books on empathy 📚

I love it when authors want to tackle an enormous question that we have all asked at some point. Po Bronson traveled to meet people who are both unique and common, impressive and ordinary, and ultimately just like everyone else. They share how they’ve tackled the question for themselves. There is no formula, no one way, and that comes with a certain sense of freedom. 

My favorite story features a man who is working to revolutionize the income model of America’s Native Peoples to elevate both their stature and power (literally). He is working on a 50-year plan, which impressed… show more.

This gentle picture book introduces us to Jacob who wants to dress up like his friend, Emily, and not in the costumes the other boys prefer. Despite being teased when he arrives at school wearing a dress fashioned from a towel, Jacob decides he wants a “real” dress. With support from his parents, he makes one of his own. Further teasing is met by Jacob’s expression of pride in his creation and refusal to compromise who he is. This colorful book promotes acceptance of gender nonconformance and can serve as an opener to discussions of the topic with young children.

When tragic events happen our first impulse may be to gloss over it when talking to young children. Sometimes, however, what they really need is straight talk. When a police shooting of a Black man occurs in the community, two children (one Black and one White) struggle to understand what happened. This beautifully crafted picture book explores questions children might have in the aftermath of such an event and how the adults around them address questions of racial injustice.

When someone you love is going through a hard time, it can be hard to know how to support them. It’s uncomfortable and heartbreaking. We can’t make their pain go away, but this book is a powerful reminder that just being there, listening, and acknowledging their rollercoaster of valid emotion can go a long way toward helping a person heal in their own time and at their own pace. With a gender-neutral child protagonist, this deceptively simple book is inspired in its pacing, spare text, use of white space, and sprinkling of humor. All in the space of 32 pages,… show more.