Picture books — quality picture books — send strong messages to children. Maybe even to the adults reading the books to children. Don’t get me wrong, picture books that are written purely for humor have their place, and kids adore them, but a picture book with a message can be essential when presenting ideas like kindness and compassion to young children and older children. These three recently published picture books are very different from each other, but all share that basic quality: they demonstrate kindness and compassion.

“102” is by the incredibly talented Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell. The story is touching and complex, and the illustrations are uniquely beautiful. Unique because Cordell has been drawing not with the finest in painting materials, but rather with an inexpensive, multicolor, multiscented ballpoint pen. Like the kinds kids love to use with buttons that you press to get the red ink or the yellow ink or the blue ink. Cordell is an artist who doesn’t rely on the materials to make his illustrations fabulous, rather he uses almost anything to make fabulous illustrations. The story is lovely as well. When I first heard the title, “102,” I wondered about it. It’s unusual to have a title be just a number. But as we see in the story, it’s a very important number. There is a sick boy, a sick mouse, and an adventure. It all comes together brilliantly and beautifully, and it’s a story that kids will want to hear more than once. I’d love to talk to kids about what they think of the story and its ending. Was it real? A fantasy? And just what should we do with mice who end up in our kitchens? (Note: you can buy humane traps at any hardware store.) (Little, Brown and Company)

Another fabulous book is “Others: A story for us all” by Kobi Yamada and Charles Santoso. When I first read this picture book, I was blown away by the concept and the text. Because while the words and sentences are very straightforward, the ideas are anything but simple. This single picture book should be read by every American and taught in every classroom. Because what it does brilliantly is expose the myth that those who have different skin colors or different religions are “others.” To accomplish that incredible feat, the illustrator has two boys talking next to a hedge. On the other side of the hedge are some amorphous shapes that look vaguely human, but not completely. One boy in a green shirt says to the other, “You have to wonder what they are thinking.” And when the other boy asks what he means, the boy in the green shirt replies that they are different kinds of people. “They’re not from here.” But the boy in the striped shirt perseveres. “They’re different? What do you mean? Do they have heads and bodies?” And as the questions striped shirt boy asks get more detailed and specific, the more we see that really, there is no “here” and “there.” And by the end of this wonderful story, we see that really, we are all together here, on this place called Earth. I would love to hear the discussions this book might engender in classrooms from kindergarten through high school. Because did you know that even teenagers love to read picture books? At least ones that make you think about what some people believe and what we are told. This would be a great gift for classroom teachers and school libraries. Parents should read and talk about this with their children. (Ten Speed Young Readers)

“The Octopus” is by Guojing, an author/illustrator whose picture books are, for the most part, wordless. I adored her picture book “Stormy” and read it to all my students. It’s wordless and I still love that book and its message. Her new book is about an octopus that has become entangled in the plastic 6-pack rings that can end up in nature and kill wildlife. A little girl comes across the entangled octopus and tries to help it. She puts the freed octopus in the ocean, and magically, she is made smaller so she is the size of the small creature. Together they swim to the deep and she sees the garbage that endangers ocean creatures, like the turtle who thinks a plastic garbage bag resembles a jellyfish and is in danger of eating it. She returns to the beach and tells her mother about her adventures. She is changed, more aware of the dangers of human waste, and we can hope that readers, too, will understand the importance of keeping wildlife safe. Wordless picture books are great tools to use in the classroom to assist in developing language skills and writing skills. I would have students write text to accompany the story, or just tell the story in their own words. Second language learners can use whatever English they have to share their understanding of the story, and dual language classrooms can write the story in both languages. Read my review of “Stormy in this picture book roundup.”(Two Lions/Amazon Publishing)

Please note: This review is based on the final hardcover books provided by the publishers for review purposes.