Here are some of my favorite books, many of them already familiar and available in early childhood classrooms. They offer rich opportunities to further explore compassion themes.

• Anaya, Rudolfo. Illustrated by David Diaz. Roadrunner's Dance. Hyperion. 2000. This Southwestern tale about how the roadrunner was created to save people from the rattlesnake begs for discussion of beliefs and compassion.
• Andersen, Hans Christian. The Ugly Duckling. Retold by Jerry Pinckney. New York: Morrow Junior Books. 1999. A swan egg gets into the nest of a duck and when hatched, he does not fit with the others. Not knowing why, he struggles to adapt and then finally is enveloped by a flock of swans heading south. The opportunities for sensing his social and spiritual pain are evident.
• Bailey, Carolyn Sherwin. Little Rabbit Who Wanted Red Wings. New York: Platt & Munk. 1945. The story is also retold by Betty Erickson. Elizabethtown, PA: Continental Press, Seedling Books Imprint. 2000. This is the story of a rabbit who wants to have something exciting happen comes to understand physical needs for shelter and spiritual need for love. An owl shows compassion and wisdom.
• Brown, Marcia. Stone Soup. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1947. The story has been retold in different versions, but the original editions are delightful to own! An impoverished community works together to feed each other.
• Flack, Marjorie and Kurt Weise, illustrator. Ping, the Duck. New York: Grosset and Dunlap. 2000. Ping goes exploring and gets into mischief before he finds his way safely home.
• Lionni, Leo. Swimmy. New York: Pantheon. 1968. A small fish leads others to collaborate in response to the physical need to protect themselves from larger fish.
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Compassion Curricular Resources

• California Preschool Instructional Network: Hosts the California Early Learning Foundations. Volume One includes social and emotional foundations for preschoolers and infants/toddlers: www.cpin.us.
• California Infant/Toddler Learning Foundations, including social/emotional development, are hosted on WestEd's website: www.wested.org/cs/we/view/rs/988
• The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL) is funded by the National Office of Head Start to focus on the link between social and emotional formation and school readiness and offers extensive materials for trainers, teachers and families based upon a pyramid that has high-quality early childhood programming as its base: www.vanderbilt.edu/csefel/
• Susan Usha Dermond, Calm and Compassionate Children: A Handboo