What a beautiful (and very giftable) book. The illustrations are relaxing and engaging. I hope the paper copy is as vibrant as the digital one I read.

As for the message, it's such a simple idea, but one we need to continue to remember:

If you focus on the good, that's what you will hear. If you open yourself to kindness, kindness will find you.

There are many sounds of kindness; when we look for it, we hear kind words all over the place. In this book, a man and child walk around, listening for the ways people are kind to each other. It's a simple act of mindfulness that's uplifting, even in a fictional moment. This would be a great book for introducing a mindful activity in the home or classroom, but it's generally uplifting even if just read on its own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

What a sweet, heartwarming book! A parent and child go on a "kindness walk" to listen for the sounds of kindness in their neighborhood. They find lots of examples in the things people say when they appreciate each other, look out for each other, and include each other. They learn that there are lots of ways to be kind and that kindness can be found all around us.

I cannot wait to get this into my pre-K classroom! It's full of such wonderful examples of kind behavior that kids can emulate. It will also be a great conversation starter about how it feels to be kind and when people are kind to us. This will be a wonderful circle time read and would be an excellent addition to school and classroom libraries.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

This is a beautiful picture book - both the illustrations and the content! A child and their caregiver go for a walk around the neighborhood and listen for all of the different ways people are kind to each other. I liked how the backgrounds of the illustrations were washed out, with the people having kind interactions were highlighted in brighter colors. I also liked the minimal text, which would allow for conversation about what is happening in the illustrations when I read this with my own children.

This is a simple book on ways to incorporate and recognize kindness in our daily life. Good for lower elementary students. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC of this title!

Such a lovely book about finding kindness in your day to day life. The book takes readers on a listening walk and illustrates little moments of kindness by the community throughout the walk. The illustrations are bright and colorful which will pull readers in.
This is a great book for parents, grandparents, teachers, and librarians to introduce the impact that kindness can have on others and yourself.
#TheSoundofKindness #NetGalley

The Sound of Kindness by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater and illustrated by Teresa Martinez (Magination Press, June 2023) is a glimpse at the good and kind parts of the communities around us. In the beginning, a child asks what kindness sounds like. Her father answers that we can “hear” kindness as we listen.

The rest of the book gives examples. The examples the child and parent hear include people greeting each other, inviting each other, helping, encouraging, and apologizing. The characters show concern for both friends and strangers (and even a duck), in a huge variety of situations.

The Sound of Kindness is a true picture book, which means that the images are essential to capturing the messages of what the people say. Each illustration emotes a positive and happy feeling. The people are bright and cartoony. The backgrounds are more of a watercolor pastel, but together the colorful pages contribute to the positivity of the entire book. The illustrations give specific details, such as a child apologizing to another because they each grabbed a half of a jump rope; the other child insists they share. Such specific examples make it a great book for one-on-one reading with a child, encouraging discussions about all the specific situations, similar to ones they would experience.

The book ends with a couplet about how we can contribute to the sounds of kindness by what we do and say to the people around us. Two pages of end matter explain to the adult reader why observing and imitating such examples of kindness is essential for our society.

The publisher of this book is American Psychological Association. I’m glad they’ve created socio-emotional books for children to support parents and caregivers hoping to educate our children with such basic but essential concepts such as “being kind.”

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance review copy of this book provided by the publisher, American Psychological Association, via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

*Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing and e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review*

This book was very cute and pointed out the various ways that people can be kind to one another. However, I was looking for more depth from the story. My favorite part about the book was actually not the book at all, but the exercises in the back that you can do with children to teach and notice kindness.

The Sound of Kindness
By Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, Illustrated by Teresa Martinez
To young children, values like kindness, empathy, or compassion can sometimes be beyond their perception.
The Sound of Kindness is a promisingly uplifting book, with succinct rhyming lyrics precisely focusing on the words that we choose to be kind to each other. It introduces the concept of a kindness walk, where a father and a son go for a walk in their neighborhood, focusing on sounds of kindness.

The book depicts the words, the deeds, and the choices that kind people make, which in turn creates a significant difference in someone else’s life. The book and its pleasant illustrations will harness the strength of kind words and actions and lay down the foundation for social emotional skills in children. The book also nurtures the importance of paying attention to and listening closely to the sounds and people around us.

The informative author’s note guides the readers about various possibilities of kindness walks like the quiet kindness walk, nature kindness walk, or the literary kindness walk. We recommend this book to parents and teachers to further instill kindness in our children, starting from a young age to help cultivate a kind community.

A delightful and thoughtful book about looking and listening for kindness in your day to day life. My youngest grandchild loved the meaning of the book and was particularly taken by the illustrations. It made me think about how people treat one another and how maybe the world was kinder than I though before.

A wonderful book about the importance of kindness and the words we choose to say. I loved the beautiful, colourful illustrations which are pastel-coloured and so detailed. Each page portrays a parent and child strolling through their neighbourhood and observing the various acts of kindness that they witness during their ‘kindness walk’. The text is mostly dialogue and the story is told through interactions that they overhear. It is essential that we model kind feelings and gratitude and that we are in discussion with children on ways we can show kindness to others. There is also a helpful Reader’s Note included at the end of the book for adults to guide children through a variety of kindness and mindfulness practices. Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy of this book to read and review.

The Sound of Kindness is a simple book, great for the earliest of readers/listeners. It's easy to get lost in the bright illustrations and imagine everything that could be going on in each scene. The story teaches children to listen for kindness, that it surrounds us. A great uplifting book!

I loved the pictures in this story. Not only did the words use kind messages but it was reflected through out in the stories pictures. This is a great story to share in a classroom to promote kindness and caring.

Our summer challenge at the library this year is going to be Cultivate Kindness and this is just the perfect book to show children how easy it is to spread kindness daily. I adore the idea of taking a daily walk to see how the world and people can easily spread kindness. It doesn't have to be a huge gesture, sometimes the simplest of things can turn some ones day around. Just a lovely concept and one that families could easily do with their own families.
Thank you so much to American Psychological Association, Magination Press, and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

What a brilliant idea is contained in The Sound of Kindness, written by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater and beautifully illustrated by Teresa Mártinez!

“What is the sound of kindness?” asks this picture book. You can find out by taking a kindness walk. We can share — and see others sharing. We can give a helping hand — and take one. We can encourage others — and be encouraged. What a wonderful message at any age! I loved this book so much.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley, the American Psychological Association and Magination Press in return for an honest review.

After reading this I read the authors notes and I have to admit I didn’t notice the things she was pointing out.
So I re-read it with a different mind set and noticed so much more Thank You for opening up my eyes.
This is a cute children’s book that while taking a walk you can see different acts of kindness. I plan on reading this to the little ones and discuss what we see. I recommend reading this

This is such a cute, heartwarming story to teach kids about different kind actions they can take. I loved the artwork, too!!

The Sound of Kindness is a short and sweet book all about how to be kind. This book is perfect for toddlers and younger elementary aged kids.

I loved the illustrations and the message throughout the book. The reader's note at the end was a nice touch and gives a way for the parent to engage more with the child in a conversation about kindness.

"Kindness costs nothing" is a lesson I've taught all of the children I've spent any time with. Whether it's a kind act or a kind word, it takes no time and not only gives joy to others, but causes joy in us.

This book is about that exact feeling. What does kindness sound like? As you turn the pages, you see this beautifully illustrated world, where friends, neighbors, and strangers alike all use kind words, forgiving words, thoughtful words, and hearing each of them read aloud is a simple, easy reminder that being kind is the easiest thing in the world.

I love this.

A short and sweet story about some of the ways that kindness surrounds us. This will appeal to so many ages, from the very youngest to oldest (you're never too old to learn a lesson in kindness, right?). The illustrations are lovely and add to the delightfulness of the story. We need more of this in our world.