When Bad Things Happen: Books for Kids

"The young girl tells us that her mom's new friend is just like the big bad wolf. At first the wolf is sweet and kind to her mom, though the girl notices the wolf's cold eyes from the very beginning. When her mom arrives home late one day, the wolf suddenly hurls angry words and terrible names at her. From that day on her mother doesn't smile anymore. The girl is careful to clean her room and brush her teeth and do everything to keep the peace, but...

After Sherman sees something terrible happen, he becomes anxious and then angry, but when a counselor helps him talk about these emotions he feels better.

"No matter how hard she tries, Claire can't kick the soccer ball in a straight line. Her coach steps in and places his hand on her shoulder, telling her that she's too pretty to wear a frown. When he tickles her later and asks her to keep it a secret, Claire doesn't know exactly what's wrong, but something just feels "weird." Too much flattery and too much contact give her that weird, uh-oh feeling. She turns to her friends for help and learns that...

A white child sees a TV news report of a white police officer shooting and killing a black man. "In our family, we don't see color," his mother says, but he sees the colors plain enough. An afternoon in the library's history stacks uncover the truth of white supremacy in America. Racism was not his idea and he refuses to defend it.

Miles wants to move away after his cousin Keisha is accidentally shot in their neighborhood park, but Keisha and Miles' father work with others to make their community a safer place.

Illustrations and easy-to-read text express a child's awareness of being filled with deep emotions, from joy to sorrow and anger to compassion, but above all, love.