One day, a mighty storm causes many starfish to wash upon the beach. A young girl, who prefers three pigtails over two, begins to pick them up one by one. As she is doing so, an older man asks her what she is doing and states that she “can’t save them all” to which she acknowledges but replies “I can save this one”. This one small act of kindness inspires the man to pay it forward which ends in inspiring a community to do small acts of kindness that end up having a mighty effect. Throughout this journey of many kind acts, the book portrays characters of different ages, races, and levels of ability. The book does not emphasize on this, however it allows the reader to visualize characters both different and similar to them partaking in these kind actions. Along with this, the book mentions a unique fact about each character which allows for self-love to be portrayed through this story as well. Even if this was not the authors intended actions. It should be noted, that this book has an amount of text that may be too much for some of the youngest readers. This book is great for the young reader who is learning about the importance of kindness, no matter how small the action may seem.
Resources:
Christian Trimmer’s Website: http://www.christiantrimmer.com/the-little-things
Lesson plan: https://www.theworldasitcouldbe.org/curriculum-and-resource-guide-2/stories-activities-1stgrade/
Children's Literature Resource 