LitPick Review
When Orbit decides to go visit some of his young friends in the park, they are so excited to see him again. They love the stories Orbit tells them and the lessons he helps them learn. This visit he wants to talk to the children about empathy. He explains that empathy is a superpower that you have and you should use with all the people you meet. You should be empathetic to others as you hope they would be to you.
Each child offers their definition of what empathy means to them. One child says that it means understanding and caring for how someone else is feeling. Another offers the idea that it is being able to see things from someone else’s point of view. Orbit reminds the children that empathy should be expressed to animals too, not just to ourselves, friends, and family members.
Opinion:
I loved this book because empathy is one of those feelings that should be applied to everyone you meet. In having Orbit explain what empathy meant, then even making it a superpower for children to really want to learn to use, it was just a wonderful idea to bring across to children. I loved, too, how Ms. Maille made certain she explained to children that empathy should also be expressed toward animals because they have feelings too. This was the perfect example how to illustrate empathy to a young child’s mind.
Another thing I loved about this book was that Orbit always picks a fun background setting to have a discussion with children. This story he picked a park the children were playing at and used it as an open canvas to allow the children to see how empathy could be applied to the people around them, even if they didn’t know that person.
The illustrations provided by Remesh Ram, the co-founder of Prayan Animation Studio, were vibrantly appealing to the reader’s eye and perfectly matched the written story. The pictures were full-paged and beautifully displayed on every single page of this enlightening children’s book. So many details could be found on each page that readers will pause to enjoy the illustrations just as much as the written story being told.
Ruth Maille is an award-winning author of The Power Of series. Her books focus on characters traits that help children develop social and emotional skills.
Overall, The Power of Empathy: Be the Friend You’ve Always Wanted is a story that will teach children that empathy given is empathy received. It is a wonderful continuation of The Power Of series, and this is a book which makes a wonderful tool to teach your child how important emotions are and that they should express them properly. It also teaches them that you need to be empathetic to everyone around you. I highly recommend this book!
