Looking to launch a service-learning project? This informational book has real world examples of kids working to make a difference in their communities.

This is a great book. I love how this book promotes volunteering. When I read it to my students, we brainstormed different ways we could volunteer around the school and also around their communities. I also love the way this book features children volunteering. Most of the time you don't see this sort of thing, but I think it is encouraging for children reading to see children taking their own time to volunteer to help do things. ( )

Books like 'Can We Help' are so important because you never know what may inspire a child to act. I have seen children on the news who start a movement on their own without prompting from adults. For example, I know of a child who began collecting used shoes to send to poverty-stricken areas and I had the privilege to work alongside a student in Pass Christian Mississippi who organized a food pantry at his high school to distribute food to the less fortunate in his community.
Through colorful and engaging photos, readers are drawn to the activities pictured. The writing is for younger children and uses the children's names in the photos to help the readers see them as real people doing real activities, not just characters in a story.
My only critique is that the book was almost totally Caucasion. It is an odd choice considering the author is the child of a Mexican immigrant and has written many children's books dedicated to culturally sensitive topics. Considering our diverse classrooms, children of all color and ethnecity would like to see themselves reflected in the literature they read. ( )

This book is filled with real life pictures of very young children doing good deeds around their community. It emphasizes that doing good things for others helps us feel good about ourselves.
Ages: 3-8 years
Source: Puyallup Public LIbrary