Ages 4 to 7 · checked September 28, 2026
Kindness and friendship picture books
Maybe something happened at school today, or you just want a bedtime story where being kind is the brave part. Here are 13 picture books that do it without a lecture, most of them with animals, sorted by what your child is going through, with how long each takes to read and how tense it gets.
Before you scroll
- The books are grouped by what's going on, not ranked.
- Most publishers pitch these younger than 7. We give each publisher's own age range, and they still work read aloud at 6 and 7.
- Titles link to the publishers, with no affiliate links. One book is ours, in its own labelled box.
At a glance
Which one for which child?
| If your child | Try |
|---|---|
| Is being left out by friends | The Hug, Strictly No Elephants or The Invisible Boy |
| Is being teased | Stick and Stone or The Invisible Boy |
| Is upset and doesn't want advice | The Rabbit Listened or Bear and Wolf |
| Asks why they should be kind to someone who wasn't kind to them | The Lion & the Mouse, Wolf in the Snow or Forest Animals (ours) |
| Loves animals and a rescue | How to Heal a Broken Wing or The Lion & the Mouse |
| Needs something calm for bedtime | Bear and Wolf, A Sick Day for Amos McGee or One Snowy Night |
| Is starting to read alone | Frog and Toad Are Friends |
Left out, teased or lonely
For trouble with friends
When something has happened at school, a story about someone else can make it easier to talk. Two of these five have no animals in them at all. We kept them because they are the best we found on teasing and being left out.
The Rabbit Listened
Cori Doerrfeld
- Ages
- 3 to 5
- Kind
- Picture book
- Read aloud
- About 3 minutes
- How tense
- A sad moment or two
Taylor's block tower gets knocked down. One animal after another turns up with a way to fix the feeling: talk about it, shout about it, knock someone else's down. Taylor wants none of it, until a rabbit arrives and simply sits close and listens. There are very few words, and the lesson is aimed at the grown-up as much as the child.
How tense: Taylor is sad and alone for several pages, a bear shouts and a snake suggests getting even. Nothing worse than a knocked-down tower.
Best for: A child who is upset and doesn't want advice, and a grown-up who wants to learn to just sit with them.
Dial Books (Penguin Random House), 2018. 40 pages. UK edition from Scallywag Press (ages 3 to 6). Age range from the publisher (US). Publisher's page
The Hug
Eoin McLaughlin, illustrated by Polly Dunbar · followed by While We Can't Hug
- Ages
- 3 and up
- Kind
- Picture book
- Read aloud
- About 4 minutes
- How tense
- A sad moment or two
Hedgehog wants a hug, and everyone finds a reason not to. Turn the book over and Tortoise has the same problem with his shell. The two stories meet in the middle, where the one friend who fits turns up. It's gentle and funny, and a good way into "what happened at school today?"
How tense: Both animals are turned down again and again, with polite excuses, and curl up alone before the happy ending. If your child is being left out, that part may hit home.
Best for: A child who has been told no by friends, and anyone who feels a bit prickly.
Faber & Faber, 2019. 48 pages. Page count from the hardback. A flip book: one story from each end. Age range from Publishers Weekly's review (we couldn't open the publisher's page). Publisher's page
Strictly No Elephants
Lisa Mantchev, illustrated by Taeeun Yoo
- Ages
- 4 to 8
- Kind
- Picture book
- Read aloud
- About 4 minutes
- How tense
- A sad moment or two
A boy's pet is a tiny elephant who is scared of cracks in the pavement. On Pet Club day there's a sign: no elephants. On the rainy walk home they meet a girl whose skunk was turned away too, then more children with unusual pets, and they start their own club where everyone is welcome.
How tense: A boy and his pet are turned away from a club, and there's a sad walk home in the rain. It ends well.
Best for: A child who has been shut out of a group, and one who might be doing the shutting out.
Simon & Schuster (Paula Wiseman Books), 2015. 32 pages. Age range from the publisher. Publisher's page
Stick and Stone
Beth Ferry, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld · followed by Stick and Stone: Best Friends Forever!
- Ages
- 4 to 7
- Kind
- Picture book in rhyme
- Read aloud
- About 3 minutes
- How tense
- Some tense moments
Stick and Stone are both lonely until a pinecone starts teasing Stone and Stick stands up for him. When a storm sweeps Stick away, Stone doesn't give up until he finds him. It's short, it rhymes, and it shows a young child what standing up for someone looks like.
How tense: A pinecone teases Stone, and later a storm carries Stick away and Stone searches for him. Both are short, and the friends end up together.
Best for: A child who is being teased, or who saw someone else being teased and didn't know what to do.
Clarion Books (HarperCollins), 2015. 48 pages. First published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. No animals: the friends are a stick and a stone. Age range from the publisher. Publisher's page
The Invisible Boy
Trudy Ludwig, illustrated by Patrice Barton
- Ages
- 6 to 9
- Kind
- Picture book
- Read aloud
- About 7 minutes
- How tense
- Some tense moments
Nobody seems to notice Brian, so he's drawn in black and white while his classmates are in colour. When a new boy gets teased about his lunch, Brian leaves him a kind note and a drawing, and the new boy finds a way to include him back. By the end Brian is in full colour. It's the most realistic book on this list.
How tense: No danger, but a lot of real exclusion: Brian is left out of games, lunch tables and birthday talk, and a new boy is teased about his lunch.
Best for: The older end of the range: 6 and 7 year olds who know exactly what being left out feels like.
Knopf (Penguin Random House), 2013. 40 pages. No animals: a school story. Age range from the publisher. Publisher's page
Even when it's hard
Helping someone in trouble
These are about the bravest kind of kindness, helping someone who is hurt, lost, or even a bit frightening. Two of these three have almost no words, so your child tells the story, and works out the lesson on their own.
Wolf in the Snow
Matthew Cordell
- Ages
- 2 to 6
- Kind
- Picture book, almost wordless
- Read aloud
- About 5 minutes, told in your own words
- How tense
- Real tension
A girl walking home in a snowstorm finds a lost wolf cub and carries it back to its pack, even though wolves are scary and she is tired. Then she is the one who is lost, and the wolves return the favour. Told almost entirely in pictures.
How tense: The most intense book here. A girl gets lost in a blizzard and collapses in the snow, and one spread shows the wolf pack with their teeth bared. The wolves lead her family to her and she ends up warm at home.
Best for: Braver children, and the question "would you help a wolf?". Read it in daylight with a sensitive child.
Feiwel & Friends (Macmillan), 2017. 48 pages. Winner of the 2018 Caldecott Medal. UK edition from Andersen Press. Age range from the publisher. Publisher's page
The Lion & the Mouse
Jerry Pinkney
- Ages
- 4 to 8
- Kind
- Picture book, wordless
- Read aloud
- About 5 minutes, told in your own words
- How tense
- Some tense moments
A lion lets a mouse go instead of eating it. Later the lion is trapped in a net, and the mouse comes back and chews through the ropes. The old fable, with no words at all, so your child gets to say what the lion and the mouse are thinking.
How tense: An owl chases the mouse, the lion catches the mouse meaning to eat it, and later the lion is caught in a poacher's net. Nobody is hurt.
Best for: Animal lovers, and any child who thinks they are too small to help.
Little, Brown, 2009. 40 pages. Winner of the 2010 Caldecott Medal. Aesop's fable, told in pictures. Age range from the publisher. Publisher's page
How to Heal a Broken Wing
Bob Graham
- Ages
- 3 to 7
- Kind
- Picture book, very few words
- Read aloud
- About 4 minutes
- How tense
- Some tense moments
In a busy city, a pigeon flies into a window and falls. Everyone hurries past except a small boy called Will, who takes it home, and with his parents' help looks after it until it can fly again. It says a lot about noticing, and about patience, in very few words.
How tense: A pigeon hits a glass building and lies hurt while people walk past, and for a while nobody knows if the wing will mend. It does, and the bird flies away.
Best for: The child who stops for every snail on the pavement.
Candlewick Press, 2008. 40 pages. Winner of the 2009 Charlotte Zolotow Award. UK edition from Walker Books (ages 3 to 5). Age range from the publisher (US). Publisher's page
Sharing and welcoming
Making room for everyone
Woodland animals out of the cold, and a crowded bed or a crowded cave. These two are funny as well as kind.
One Snowy Night
Nick Butterworth · the first Percy the Park Keeper book
- Ages
- From 3
- Kind
- Picture book
- Read aloud
- About 6 minutes
- How tense
- Calm all the way
On a freezing night, Percy the park keeper hears a knock at his hut. It's a squirrel whose bed is full of snow. Then rabbits, a fox, a badger, ducks, a hedgehog and a family of mice turn up, and Percy lets every one of them in, until his little bed can't hold them all.
How tense: Nothing frightening: cold animals, and a bed that gets far too full.
Best for: Bedtime, and a child who loves foxes, badgers and hedgehogs.
HarperCollins UK, 1989. 32 pages. A UK book, first published by Collins. Age range from the publisher. Publisher's page
Bear Snores On
Karma Wilson, illustrated by Jane Chapman · the Bear books
- Ages
- 4 to 8
- Kind
- Picture book in rhyme
- Read aloud
- About 4 minutes
- How tense
- A sad moment or two
While Bear sleeps through a snowstorm, a mouse, a hare, a badger and more crowd into his cave and throw a party. When Bear finally wakes, he isn't angry about the guests. He's sad he was left out of the fun, and they make sure he isn't. The rhyme and the "but the bear snores on" refrain make it easy to read aloud.
How tense: Bear wakes up with a roar and the guests are worried he'll be cross. He's only upset he missed the party.
Best for: Reading aloud with a child who likes to join in the refrain.
Margaret K. McElderry Books (Simon & Schuster), 2002. 32 pages. Age range from the publisher. Publisher's page
The calm ones
Friendship, the quiet kind
No rescues and no villains. These three show kindness as small everyday things, like noticing when a friend is sad, keeping someone company, or looking after someone who usually looks after you.
Bear and Wolf
Daniel Salmieri
- Ages
- 4 to 8
- Kind
- Picture book
- Read aloud
- About 5 minutes
- How tense
- Calm all the way
A young bear and a young wolf meet in the woods on a snowy night and decide to walk together, listening to the snow and looking at fish asleep under the ice. Then Bear goes home to sleep for the winter and Wolf runs off with the pack, until spring. It's a slow, beautiful book about simply keeping someone company.
How tense: A small startle when they first meet, and a goodbye for the winter. They meet again in spring.
Best for: Bedtime, sensitive children, and the child who is a little shy with new friends.
Enchanted Lion Books, 2018. 48 pages. Age range from the publisher. Publisher's page
Frog and Toad Are Friends
Arnold Lobel · the first of four Frog and Toad books
- Ages
- 4 to 8
- Kind
- Early reader, five short stories
- Read aloud
- About 4 minutes a story
- How tense
- A sad moment or two
Five short stories about two friends who aren't perfect. Toad is grumpy and shy, and Frog is patient with him. The last story is the one parents remember: Toad is sad that nobody ever writes to him, so Frog quietly writes him a letter.
How tense: Small sad moments: Toad never gets any mail, and the other animals laugh at him in his bathing suit.
Best for: Children starting to read on their own, and anyone with a grumpy best friend.
HarperCollins, 1970. 64 pages. First published by Harper & Row. A 1971 Caldecott Honor Book. An I Can Read book (Level 2). Age range from the publisher. Publisher's page
A Sick Day for Amos McGee
Philip C. Stead, illustrated by Erin E. Stead · followed by Amos McGee Misses the Bus
- Ages
- 2 to 6
- Kind
- Picture book
- Read aloud
- About 4 minutes
- How tense
- Calm all the way
Amos, an old zookeeper, has time for every friend: chess with the elephant, a race with the tortoise, a bedtime story for the owl. When he's too ill to come to work, the animals take the bus to his house and look after him the way he looks after them. The main character is a person, and the animals are his friends.
How tense: Only that Amos is ill in bed for a day.
Best for: Bedtime, and the child who looks after everyone else.
Roaring Brook Press (Macmillan), 2010. 32 pages. Winner of the 2011 Caldecott Medal. Age range from the publisher. Publisher's page
Our own book
Forest Animals
by Katia Sunn · Made Of You, 2026
- Ages
- 5 to 9
- Kind
- Picture book in rhyme, 54 pages
- Read aloud
- About 10 minutes
- How tense
- Real tension
A rabbit with ears so big the other animals keep shushing it hears a wolf crying for help from a hunters' trap. Wolves chase rabbits, so the rabbit has a choice to make, and the book stops to ask your child which they would choose. Then it goes looking for help. The proud eagle doesn't care, the stag remembers the wolf chasing his family, and one by one the animals come round.
Unlike the other books here, each of the nine animals is also a 3D model. Scan the code on the page with a phone or tablet and the fox or the owl stands in your room, in the browser, with no app. The rhyme works fine without it at bedtime.
Before you choose it, know that the message is said out loud at the end, so it isn't subtle. It came out in September 2026, so it has no track record yet, and it's a paperback printed by Amazon.
How tense: Two tense stretches. A wolf is caught in a hunters' trap and cries that it hurts, and later people set the forest on fire, with smoke and hurt animals. No animal dies: the fox heals the wounded, and the animals put the fire out together.
Best for: 5 to 7 year olds with a grown-up beside them, and 8 and 9 year olds ready for the harder question: why help someone who was never kind to you?
Checked September 28, 2026
How we chose
We started from what parents actually write when they ask for these books: a child “having trouble with friends”, “a gentle moral, not preachy”, “forest animals, good for bedtime”. We looked for stories where kindness is something a character does, and hard for them, rather than a list of rules. Most have animals, because a hedgehog nobody will hug is easier to talk about than a classmate.
For every book we read the publisher's page or a library record for the author, the format, the page count and the age range, and awards are only listed where the award's own list confirms them. Read-aloud times are our estimates. “How tense” covers sad moments as well as scary ones, taken from the publisher's description and published reviews, and we say what happens so you can judge it for your own child.
We left out a few favourites we couldn't check, and ones that turned out to be about sharing rather than kindness. Katia wrote one of the books on this page, Forest Animals, so it sits in a separate box with its tense bits spelled out. Nobody paid to be here. A book we missed? Tell us at info@madeofyou.com.
Questions
What parents ask
- My 5 year old is having trouble with friends at school. Which book should we read?
- It depends on what's happening. If they're being left out, try The Hug or Strictly No Elephants, where the one left out finds friends who fit. If they're being teased, Stick and Stone shows a friend standing up for someone. At 6 or 7, The Invisible Boy is the closest to real school life. Read it once just for the story, and talk about it the second time.
- Are there kindness books that aren't preachy?
- The wordless ones can't lecture: in The Lion & the Mouse and Wolf in the Snow your child tells the story and works out the lesson on their own. Frog and Toad Are Friends never names kindness at all, it just shows it. The Rabbit Listened is the gentlest message on this list, and it's mostly for the grown-up.
- What's a gentle kindness book for bedtime?
- Bear and Wolf, A Sick Day for Amos McGee and One Snowy Night are calm all the way through. Bear Snores On rhymes and has a refrain to join in. Keep Wolf in the Snow for the daytime if your child is sensitive: the girl gets lost in a blizzard.
- Are there kindness picture books with foxes and other woodland animals?
- One Snowy Night fills a park keeper's hut with a fox, a badger, rabbits, a squirrel, a hedgehog and mice. Bear and Wolf and Wolf in the Snow are set in snowy woods, and Bear Snores On has a hare, a badger and a mole in a bear's cave. Our own Forest Animals has a fox who turns out to be the healer and an old owl who gets the last word.
- How can I use a book to teach my child about kindness?
- Read it first just as a story. On the second reading, stop at the hard moment, like the lion caught in the net or Hedgehog alone, and ask what they would do. With a wordless book, let them tell it to you. Then leave it there. Children remember a story they worked out for themselves longer than a lesson tacked on at the end.
More from the forest, free
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