Empathy Day 2018 #ReadforEmpathy

'What if no one can tell if they're living in a time that's losing its heart?'

Laila Levenson (aged 12) Tender Earth (Macmillan Children's Books) A #ReadforEmpathy choice

Empathetic Learning is the best kind... when I think of the things I remember from my young years it is always the moments of learning where I was moved by something or someone that have stayed with me.

So too the books that made me laugh or cry, or took me on a rollercoaster of a journey, are the books from childhood that I remember still today.

For Empathy Day 2018 I'm heading to Sheffield Libraries where my day will start by asking people to share a story of a moment of learning through empathy that has had an impact on their lives.

With Mary Lea of Sheffield Libraries at the Empathy Cafe

“We’re pleased that people have come along to participate in this project and it is our hope that everyone who gets involved in our Empathy Day activities will become an Empathy Ambassador, using their empathy skills to help others.” Mary Lea (Cabinet member for Culture, parks and Leisure) 

I've been working closely with Sheffield Libraries to look at how empathy can be increased through characters we meet in stories. The science shows that it can. The beautiful thing about empathy is that it can grow in us... and the more we step into the shoes of another who we may feel we share little empathy for at the outset of a story... the more profoundly we grow. In my experience the Empathy tree is nourished through reading and writing!

I'm often taken aback that a character I can have decided is a secondary character at the mapping out stage then become the ones I empathise with the most. This has happened to me so many times now that it reveals what we all have...unconscious bias.... why empathy is magical is because by truly exploring a character's life from the inside out, by walking in their shoes, you discover so much about the world and about your own world view, and your ability to expand both.

That's why I am delighted that 'Tender Earth' has been selected as one of this year's #ReadforEmpathy books.

Sheffield Libraries have chosen themes in 'Tender Earth ' that are key issues in their communities. Their aim, in inviting me to work with them, is to explore how reading about characters and situations that are relevant in their own community can help people to increase empathy for one another across generations, cultures and religions.




In 'Tender Earth' young Laila Levenson asks the question
'What if no one can tell if they're living in a time that's losing its heart?'


She can't stand the idea of that but at first she's overwhelmed by navigating through some of today's very present realities that impact directly on her and her friend's lives. Poverty inequality, racism and religious intolerence. Laila doesn't know how she can change things but once she starts to feel true empathy for the people around her, a portal opens that leads her to understand how her feeling for others can be transformed into empathetic action that can change her community for the better.





Published by Macmillan Children's Books 2017 

Articles:
The Read For Empathy Titles
https://literature.britishcouncil.org/blog/2018/ordinary-human-life/

Walking in Empathy Shoes
http://justimagine.co.uk/2017/06/09/walking-this-tender-earth-in-empathy-shoes-by-sita-brahmachari/

Tender Earth nominations and awards:

Endorsed by Amnesty International UK

Chosen for the IBBY UK Honour List ( Novel)  2018

Longlisted for: Carnegie Medal 2018

Longlisted for the Shrewsbury Book Award 2018

Selected by Empathy Lab for their 2018 Read for Empathy Guide

Shortlisted for the Little Rebel Awards 2018

Shortlisted for the Haringey Book Award 2018

Shortlisted for the Southern Schools Book Award 2018