Thoughtfulness and Compassion

Being thoughtful and compassionate isn’t always easy. In fact, it can be very hard. One summer, Garnet practices looking beyond temporary obstacles and shows the love she has for her family and friends. Chester discovers the true meaning of friendship as his friends make thoughtful sacrifices, however big or small, to show that they care. Last of all, Edward Tulane learns what it means to truly love through a series of owners who share with him what it means to be thoughtful and compassionate, despite any and all challenges that may arise.
 
Day and Time: Thursdays, 12:45 PM - 1:45 PM ET
Class Duration: 4 Weeks
Dates: May 8-29, 2025
Recommended for: Ages 9+ / Grades 4-5
Teacher: TTK Faculty
Required materials: 
Thimble Summer, by Elizabeth Enright
The Cricket in Times Square, by George Selden
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, by Kate DiCamillo
 
Thimble Summer, by Elizabeth Enright
A few hours after nine-year-old Garnet Linden finds a silver thimble in the dried-up riverbed, the rains come and end the long drought on the farm. The rains bring safety for the crops and the livestock, and money for Garnet's father. Garnet can't help feeling that the thimble is a magic talisman, for the summer proves to be interesting and exciting in so many different ways.
 
The Cricket in Times Square, by George Selden
Tucker is a streetwise city mouse. He thought he'd seen it all. But he's never met a cricket before, which really isn't surprising, because, along with his friend Harry Cat, Tucker lives in the very heart of New York City―the Times Square subway station. Chester Cricket never intended to leave his Connecticut meadow. He'd be there still if he hadn't followed the entrancing aroma of liverwurst right into someone's picnic basket. Now, like any tourist in the city, he wants to look around. And he could not have found two better guides―and friends―than Tucker and Harry.
 
Chester makes a third friend, too. It is a boy, Mario, who rescues Chester from a dusty corner of the subway station and brings him to live in the safety of his parents' newsstand. He hopes at first to keep Chester as a pet, but Mario soon understands that the cricket is more than that. Because Chester has a hidden talent and no one―not even Chester himself―realizes that the little country cricket may just be able to teach even the toughest New Yorkers a thing or two.
 
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, by Kate DiCamillo
Once, in a house on Egypt Street, there lived a china rabbit named Edward Tulane. The rabbit was very pleased with himself, and for good reason: he was owned by a girl named Abilene, who adored him completely. And then, one day, he was lost. . . . Kate DiCamillo takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the depths of the ocean to the net of a fisherman, from the bedside of an ailing child to the bustling streets of Memphis. Along the way, we are shown a miracle — that even a heart of the most breakable kind can learn to love, to lose, and to love again.
 
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