PPBF: The Cardinal's Gift

Today, I'm thinking about cardinals. And kindness.

It's probably because I got to read Birdie & Mipps to a class this morning, and I left a kindness cardinal with their teacher, to hide in their classroom every day between Thanksgiving break and Christmas, and provide a conversation starter about ways that they can be kind.

A kindness cardinal, the perfect segue into today's PPBF.

Title: The Cardinal's Gift

Author: Carole Heaney

Illustrator: Marlo Garnesworthy

Publisher: In the spirit of Healing Press

Birth Date: October 11, 2021

Suitable for: ages 6-10

Themes: grief, compassion, hope

Brief synopsis: When Rachel's daddy dies, life as Rachel knew it left with him. Can a bold bird help breathe life back into her broken heart?

Opening page: "Rachel, please get ready for school," Mom called. "If you don't get up, you'll miss the bus." Ever since Daddy died, Rachel didn't want to get up in the morning, let alone go to school.

Resources:

Enjoy a read-aloud {here}.

Watch the book's trailer {here}.

Listen to the song Cardinal from Kacey Musgraves.

Make a paper plate cardinal craft.

Why I like this book: The idea of cardinals as the bearers of comfort has helped me through my profound grief at losing my brother, so to find this book, which refers to the cardinal as a gift-bearer, soothes my soul. If I were still in the schoolhouse, I'd totally use it with my Lost & Found group.

Jeremy Allen reminds us that "where loss lives, grief will follow."

And it's often a big mess, a sad, confusing, chaotic season.

Ask your class family what Jeremy's words mean. 

What does grief look like, sound like, feel like?

Here I am after losing Mipps, then in the Chicago airport

after just finding out that Mom had passed away.

Can you imagine what I'm feeling in these pictures?

Ask your learners to share how it felt if they've lost someone special.

Or elevate empathy by asking: How do you think Rachel felt?

And how, exactly, can a brilliant red bird help?

Journey with Rachel and find out what her grief experience is like.

Then read on for some therapeutic resources that help her through,

one of which is the gift of the cardinal who comes tapping at her window.

I'll call him Bill. What do you think his name should be?

And how do I know he's a boy? Maybe it's time for some research.

So many extension opps in this one little treasure.

Check it out; I think you'll be thankful that you did.

Oh, and back to the idea of a kindness cardinal:

Did you know that your kindness can actually be measured?

Click {here} to take the Kindness.org KQ questionnaire.

If you take it, let me know how you scored.

Full disclosure: I got an 83. 

More about that in a later post.

Happy Thanks and Giving, dear reader.