Richie’s Picks: PUNCH! A STORY ABOUT KINDNESS
Richie Partington
Richie’s Picks: PUNCH! A STORY ABOUT KINDNESS by Michael Hall, HarperCollins/Greenwillow, April 2025, 40p., ISBN: 978-0-06-286621-9
“What are riches untold
In a life without compassion?
For there's no winter as cold
As a life without compassion
There's no prescription that's sold
That can heal you like compassion”
– Todd Rundgren (1981)
In PUNCH! A STORY ABOUT KINDNESS, Michael Hall’s recognizable style—painted paper that forms the basis of digital collages—is employed to depict a cast of animal friends. It’s a picturebook that uses clever wordplay to set up surprise page turns. It’s a story with a powerful lesson/proposition for young audiences.
“GRRRRRR!
Badger was looking for trouble.
And he found it.
Badger tripped Frog,
shoved Moose,
kicked Elephant,
and poked Bear with a shovel.”
Bear, who turns out to be the wise leader of the bunch, crafts a “...plan to teach that Badger a lesson.”
But the punch that Bear subsequently delivers to Badger, while the latter is digging in the hot sun, is not the painful sort of punch. Instead, it’s the cold, tropical fruit sort of punch.
It is said that empathy is the key to understanding a friend's perspective, especially when they're navigating difficulties. PUNCH! proposes that one turn the other cheek, and feel empathy for those who trespass against us. Behind the humor of the tale is a call to abandon violence and vindictiveness in favor of compassion and forgiveness. It is a sentiment that has been advocated by wise and holy men for thousands of years. It was certainly a tenet of the Summer of Love.
Hall’s story of the crew helping Badger become his old, loveable self again, will resonate with young audiences who may well have experienced their own run-ins with being treated unfairly and hurtfully by peers. I bet that, amidst four-to-eight-year-old audiences, there will be a couple of kids who really take to heart the kindness being demonstrated here. I can imagine these kids one day resisting negative, reactive impulses and, instead, taking action–however big or small–to help the one who has been unkind to them feel less stressed and angry, to make things better rather than worse.
Thus, PUNCH! is a very fun story containing a superb lesson.
Richie Partington, MLIS
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