New book teaches children about compassionate curiosity

Written by Clara Nithiaparan, M.Sc

?“Wally was a bully. That’s what everybody said. They were sure that hurtful thoughts were all that filled his head.”?

Wally was definitely a bully. But, there is always more to the story. What if we paused to be curious for a moment??

Freya the little fox paused, and that was just the start of a new journey for both of them.

Wally and Freya is a new children’s book that focuses on an important restorative justice theme: compassionate curiosity.?Wally, a mischievous little otter, steals and destroys a book written by his classmate. Freya, a kind little fox, despite being directly affected by Wally’s actions, pauses for a moment to be compassionately curious. Read this book to see author Lindsey Pointer and illustrator Stella Mongodi unravel the magic of how far a simple conversation focused on understanding can go.

Author Lindsey Pointer (She/Her) is a mother of two, assistant professor at Vermont Law and Graduate School and principal investigator of the National Center on Restorative Justice.

She initially conceived the idea for the book when she was getting her PhD in New Zealand and ruminating on the possibility of communicating restorative justice through more creative means. She said she always loved writing children’s books as a hobby because of the simplicity of children’s stories and their ability to hit on universal themes in an accessible way.?

Wally and Freya focuses on the themes of compassionate curiosity, pausing to listen deeply, and non-punitive accountability.

“It’s important to introduce more stories and have that layer of human complexity, that this person causing harm isn’t a bad person,” she said. “We don’t have a lot of practice with that pausing, that compassionate curiosity.”

Pointer has also been working with Stella Mongodi (the illustrator) to create further interactive tools, such as paper puppets to act out the story and a coloring sheet (linked?here). These resources are available through?restorativeteachingtools.com.?

The story and its focus on compassionate curiosity and empathy is only capturing a?sliver?of restorative justice, so Pointer hopes this book is just the beginning.

Good Books, the publisher of the?Little Books?of Justice and Peacebuilding, is interested in starting a?“Restorative Justice for Kids” series that tackles other related themes.?Pointer excitedly calls for other writers to send in their manuscripts to bring this series to life!

Purchase the book here.