Read for Empathy 2024 Booklist
“Science shows that empathy is learnable and that reading is an important empathy-building tool. This collection will help parents and educators to surround children with empathy experiences, inspiring them to understand others better, and tackle societal problems like racism.” EmpathyLab Founder Miranda McKearney OBE.
The aim of the Read for Empathy collection is for schools, libraries, families and community groups to use the books to help raise a generation with strong empathy skills. Chosen by expert judges, the primary collection features 40 books for 4-11 year olds, including picturebooks, novels, poetry, non-fiction and graphic novels, all published within the last three years.
Each title on this list was selected because of its empathy-building job, offering children the opportunity to expand their understanding of different people and life experiences, and helping them to find ways of experiencing and building empathy.
The 2024 Read For Empathy book collection comes at a time when empathising with others has never been needed more. Themes of this year’s collection include: changing society for the better; the world’s big empathy issues (war, climate change, refugees); handling and sharing emotions; the power of empathy in relationships; understanding people’s experience of challenging life circumstances; hope for the future; empathy for characters; and identity.
You can see the full collection here. More information is available on the Empathy Lab website.