I Forgive Alex
A Simple Story About Understanding
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- £2.99
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
A simple, yet powerful, picture book--from New York Times bestselling creators, Kerascoët—about compassion and forgiveness.
Alex’s enthusiasm and energy can sometimes be a challenge for his classmates. He loves to play ball on the playground with his friends, but when his rambunctious behavior inadvertently upsets one of the other students, he finds himself at odds with the whole class.
A perfect companion to the picture book I Walk with Vanessa, which Parents magazine named the Best Book of the Year about kindness, this story explores the difficult feelings that come with apologies and forgiveness. In a story that sees the perspective of both sides, Alex learns quickly that the right thing to do is say he’s sorry, leaving it up to his friend to find the compassion and empathy to accept it.
This wordless picture book is a good reminder that it’s important to take responsibility for a mistake but that it’s equally important to be ready to forgive.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Like Kerascoët's I Walk with Vanessa, this wordless story unfolds in a busy schoolyard where small children navigate a conflict with compassion. During recess, a pink-skinned youth sets treasured drawings on a schoolyard bench while a lively game of basketball goes on nearby. Dribbling and dodging without making a pass, a red-haired, pale-skinned child—presumably Alex—sends the basketball sailing right onto the bench, tumbling the drawings into a puddle and ruining them. In a series of affecting vignettes that move from the playground to the classroom and lunchroom, the pupils, depicted with varying skin tones, throng the victim with sympathy and shun Alex—until, at end of day, the artist approaches Alex, and the two make amends. Almost no adults are involved in this slow-burn portrait of regret and forgiveness, and the children's tiny figures and comical expressions sweeten the tale's tricky emotional encounters. Back matter offers "What to Do" lists for "When You Hurt Someone" and "If You Are the Person Who Was Hurt," drawing the story's events closer to the real world and making difficult words seem easier to say. Ages 4–8.
