If you didn’t already know, empathy is simply the ability to understand or share the feelings of others. Empathy and the ability to make a connection with others has never been more needed than it is now. In the strange times we are currently living in, the importance of empathy cannot be underestimated.
Books and reading are an amazing way to develop our empathy as they offer a deep insight into how other people are thinking or feeling. Put simply, reading allows us to see and understand the world through the eyes of others, making us kinder human beings overall. Perhaps you all might have read a certain book called Wonder? Wonder told from the perspective of many different characters, providing glimpses into their behaviour and exploring the impact our actions can have on others. It helps us empathise and understand there are many reasons why people do what they do.
You can find out more about empathy and reading at Empathy Lab
In the meantime, here are my suggestions to read for empathy, all featuring messages of compassion, inclusion and acceptance. Add your own in the comments.
1. Wonder
I mentioned it above, but it is the most engaging and uplifting tale. Auggie is a normal, smart, funny, Star Wars loving kid who just happens to have a severe physical deformity. The story of his first year at a real school, after being home schooled since he was young, really is the best way to start building your empathy.
2. Heartstopper
This is a graphic novel but it tells a beautiful story of first love at an all boys grammar school. Charlie and Nick are very different but they become friends before realising their feelings for each other are deeper than first thought. They must navigate these uncharted waters against a background of homophobic bullying and all the other small stories that run through their lives.
3. The Boy at the Back of the Class
The story of 4 friends and their empathy for the new boy in class – a refugee from Syria. Our narrator does not have much of his own, he is from a single parent family that struggles with making ends meet, yet he makes a huge effort to befriend the new boy. A book about kindness and not judging people before you know them.
Can you imagine what it is like to grow up as a Muslim boy who likes comic books in a tough community, where bullying, peer pressure and gang life are commonplace? Kick the Moon will take you there with the story of Ilyas and let you share his hopes and feeling and fears and beliefs that all make him who he is and give him the courage to stand up to the bullies and the gangs. One for older readers.
5. Once
This is the first in a series of books by Morris Gleitzmann following the life of a young Polish boy called Felix as he searches for his parents during the Second World War. Narrated by Felix himself the novel is hopeful and heartbreaking at the same time as we see the horrors of war through the eyes of a naturally optimistic 10-year-old boy.
The most recent book from John Green deals with a teenager called Aza as she unravels a mystery and fights her own battle with anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Excellent insight into mental health issues as the main characters struggles are based on Green’s own lived experiences. See also Am I Normal Yet? By Holly Bourne
7. Booked
Written in verse, this is the story of Nick, a 12-year-old football star who finds himself having to deal with his parents’ separation, school bullies and an injury that takes him off the pitch. This book has something everyone should identify with – school, family drama, fast paced football matches.
Enjoy!
