Manchester Libraries is celebrating Empathy Day on 9 June this year with The Empathy Lab and we think that this year it’s more important than ever. In fact we’re such fans of how books can build empathy that we’ve put together a whole programme of events for you. Here you can find links and suggestions to share with your family ranging from craft activities, sharing rhymes, story times and books you can borrow via BorrowBox.
We will also highlight many of the fabulous activities being planned by the Empathy Lab.
What is The Empathy Lab?
The Empathy Lab is working with a wide range of organisations to harness books’ empathy-building power, inspired by scientific evidence that in identifying with book characters, we learn to see things from other points of view. Research shows that humans are not born with a fixed quantity of empathy – it’s a skill we can learn.
Check out Empathy Lab for more information and resources and watch the videos below that explain the definitions of empathy. We love the Sesame Street video for children, featuring Mark Ruffalo!
Manchester Libraries Empathy Activities programme
See Manchester Libraries Facebook at 2pm on the days below. You can also see them on our Twitter page or on our YouTube channel.
The highlight is author Kate Milner reading It’s a No Money Day especially for Manchester Libraries!
Monday 1st June: Not Now Bernard by David McKee
Tuesday 2nd June: Watch a reading of Lubna and Pebble by author Wendy Meddour then catch our Pebble activity
Wednesday 3rd June: Empathy Lego Challenge and Lego Emotions
Thursday 4th June: Empathy Storytime: When Sadness Comes to Call written by Eva Eland
Friday 5th June: Empathy Craft and Watch a reading of Lubna and Pebble by author Wendy Meddour
Saturday 6th June: Empathy Storytime: Where Happiness Begins by Eva Eland
Sunday 7th June: Empathy Storytime: The Storm Whale written Benji Davies
Monday 8th June: Author Kate Milner reads It’s a No Money Day for Manchester Libraries
Tuesday 9th June: See the fabulous Empathy Day events from Empathy Lab here or follow us on Twitter on the day.
Borrow Empathy books with Manchester Libraries
Pick up or reserve an eBook or eAudiobook online at BorrowBox. Here are our Empathy suggestions, however you don’t have to stick to this list. We realised as a team that lots of books show empathy, why not share your fave reads with us on social media. See manclibraries.blog for instructions on how to download Borrow Box if you haven’t done so already, or if you’re good to go click on the link right here and get searching!
Primary School List
Charlie Changes into a Chicken by Sam Copeland
Pie in the Sky by Remi Lai
The Last Human by Lee Bacon and Paul Panting
Check Mates by Stewart Foster
No Ballet Shoes in Syria by Catherine Bruton
Cloud Boy by Marcia Williams
The Afterwards by Emily Gravett
Flight by Vanessa Harbour
Secondary School List
Frankly in Love by David Yoon
Toffee by Sarah Crossan
Furious Thing by Jenny Downham
Somebody Give this Heart a Pen by Sophia Thakur
The Deepest Breath by Meg Grehan
Jemima Small versus the Universe by Tamsin Winter
New Kid by Jerry Craft
Kick the Moon by Muhammad Khan
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
The Family Activities pack:
A fun filled pack of activities straight from the Empathy Lab that you can use at home!
Storytimes with Empathy Lab:
Catch authors reading fabulous titles on the Empathy Lab YouTube channel, and find Empathy Lab’s exciting Empathy Day programme of events for 9 June here; what a treat!