COUNTING KINDNESS

A family seeking refuge is met with kindness in this simple counting book.

One boat carries an African family escaping war across the sea, two hands lift them out of it “to safety,” three meals calm the children’s hunger, and four beds keep the family and a friend warm at night. The mother, two young children, and a baby continue to be met with kindness. Colorful spreads illustrate their journey and fill the newcomers’ environment with diverse faces, young and old. The simple counting book concludes with further information about refugees and a list of organizations through which readers might help or learn more. In emphasizing kindness and welcome, Kurman undercuts her own mission. Readers may become frustrated with the refugee family’s lack of agency as they receive aid, gifts, and culture from others throughout the book—it is a one-sided relationship. It feels as though the choice of protagonists may have been made with an eye to highlighting only the most uncontroversial as subjects of charity. Some may feel that the choices made throughout the book consolidate refugees’ position as an objectified “other.” Others will notice that the list of recommended organizations is concentrated in the developed world and does not mention community-based ones. The refugees fit in seamlessly in their environment, are grateful, and say “thanks” at the end.

A painfully well-intentioned but just OK addition to children’s literature about refugees.