If you look long and hard enough, you’ll see the beauty in everything
Rosie peers out of her window, wondering who might live inside the old run down house across the road from her. She is sure it is an old person but she is also sure that they are possibly quite lonely.
Rosie also misses her mum. She misses her silly songs, crazy creations and how she saw beauty in everything
So she decides to see beauty in the decrepit old house and the lonely person and takes the a gift.
The gift she gives is not what you would expect someone to give but Rosie has thought long and hard as to why this gift is the best gift she can give, it has so much heart and thought.
Rosies eventually musters up the courage to visit the person who lives in the house across the road and in doing so not only understands how she feels but how other people feel too when loneliness surrounds them.
The gift is a book that will make you cry yet it will show you that small gestures of love and kindness can brighten anyone’s awful day.
Small acts of kindness and thought spread far and wide and in Michael Speechley’s picture book, we see how important these acts are.
In a world that is full of internet influencers, far reaching fame and the ever present yearning for recognition, The Gift is a book that shows readers that simplicity and kindness are much more meaningful.
This is a book to be shared, to be given and to be treasured.
Children who have lost a loved one or know someone who is lonely will see themselves in Rosie and hopefully see that beauty is in everything.
Teacher notes
Kindness
The Joy of Giving
Gardening
Weeds