Empathy Week is a hive of activity among book lovers. It’s an opportunity to shine a light on the many benefits reading brings, not least the skill of seeing the world from someone else’s point of view;
‘In reading, you get to feel things, visit places and worlds you would never otherwise know. You learn that everyone else out there is a me, as well. Empathy is a tool for building people into groups, for allowing us to function as more than self-obsessed individuals.’ – Neil Gaiman

Our Empathy Week began at Newton Abbot Library, where the EYFS and KS1 classes from Wolborough Primary School came to teach Duck and Dot about the importance of kindness. We talked about caring for one another’s feelings and experimented using Olivier Tallec’s illustrations to express a range of emotions through a character’s eyes.

The ‘Empathy Day’ celebrations continued at Torbridge Library, where the children from Torbridge Nursery, Torbridge High and Cann Bridge Special School came to act out ‘How Rude!’ and create their own duck puppets. It was ‘Waggy Wednesday’ so it was especially lovely to meet library dog, Oliver, for cuddles! He also enjoyed the story 🙂

And a fabulous day was also spent in Tiverton. With the support of Little Tiger Press and Kayleigh from Liznojan Books, we made a whistle stop tour of three primary schools (Halberton Primary School, Tidcombe Primary School and Bampton C of E Primary School). We ran workshops discussing memory, caring for older people in our community and dementia. The children made a ‘beach’ full of memories that were special to them and a sand clay keepsake to either give to someone they love or to keep themselves as a memory of our time together.
Hoping you had a fantastic Empathy Week, also!