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Invented example: Hugo in "The Gentle Knight", the cover

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BooksVintage storybookAges 4–8Coming soon

The Gentle Knight

A grumpy giant blocks the bridge, and your child wins without a sword: stop, look, help.

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Helps with

Kindness

Kindness and courage: noticing when someone is hurting, and finding the brave way to help.

The tool your child practises in the story

Stop. Look. Help.

Teach the three words with three hand signs. Stop: hold up a flat hand like a little wall and take one slow breath. Look: put a hand above your eyes and notice the other person's face, hands and body. What might they be feeling? Help: hold out an open hand and ask "Can I help?", or fetch a grown-up. Practise at home with a teddy that has a "thorn", then cheer when your child uses the promise out in the world.

Page 26: For grown-ups. Every book ends with a page for you: what the story is about, how to talk about it, questions to ask and how to use the tool.

For grown-ups

What this story is about

Children hear a lot about being brave: being strong, being fast, winning. This story shows another kind of courage. When a grumpy giant blocks the bridge, everyone wants him chased away, and your child is expected to do it. Instead, your child uses a knight's promise of three words, stops, looks properly, and sees that the giant is hurting and lonely. Then your child asks everyone to help. Being kind when everyone else is shouting takes real bravery, and children can practise it every day.

Three ways to talk about it

  • Practise the three words with their hand signs on small things: a friend who has fallen over, a toy a little sibling cannot reach, a grandparent carrying heavy bags.
  • Talk about "grumpy" behaviour: "Sometimes people are cross because something hurts or they feel left out. What might be going on for them?"
  • Make it clear that helping can also mean fetching a grown-up you trust, and that this is a brave and clever way to help.

Three questions to ask

  • Why was the giant shouting "Go away!"? What did he really need?
  • Everyone wanted to chase the giant away. What did the child do instead, and why was that brave?
  • Who did you help this week? Who helped you?

Practise the tool together: Stop. Look. Help.

Teach the three words with three hand signs. Stop: hold up a flat hand like a little wall and take one slow breath. Look: put a hand above your eyes and notice the other person's face, hands and body. What might they be feeling? Help: hold out an open hand and ask "Can I help?", or fetch a grown-up. Practise at home with a teddy that has a "thorn", then cheer when your child uses the promise out in the world.

If your child often finds it very hard to notice or care about how others feel, or if fears or anger with other children keep getting in the way of friendships, it is worth talking to your paediatrician or a child psychologist.

Look inside

Twelve illustrated spreads: the picture on the left, the story on the right. These sample pages show an invented child called Hugo.

  • Invented example: Hugo in "The Gentle Knight", page 2

    Old Sir Oswin, the gentlest knight in the land, was off to visit his sister over the mountains. "Before I go," he said, "here is a real knight's promise. Just three words. Stop. Look. Help." Just then, a ladybird tumbled onto its back in the grass, tiny legs waving. Hugo stopped. Hugo looked. And Hugo helped it over with one gentle finger. "There," smiled Sir Oswin. "That's how it starts."

  • Hugo stopped, right there in front of the giant. Then Hugo looked. Not at his big hands or his big beard, but properly, the way Sir Oswin had taught. The giant's eyes were wet. He was holding one enormous foot. And in his heel was a thorn, as long as a carrot. "Oh," said Hugo softly. "You're not angry. You're hurting."

  • That evening, Sir Oswin came home to find a giant dancing at the fair. "Well, well," he chuckled. "Who did this?" "Hugo did," said Queen Clementine, pushing up her crown. "Without a sword at all." So, in front of everyone, the queen touched Hugo's shoulders with a big yellow daisy. "Rise, Hugo, Gentle Knight of Bramblebury!" The crowd cheered, and Grumbold cheered loudest of all.

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