Kit Helps Lily: Showing Someone Else How

Book 19 of Kit's Little Sparks. By Chris Kuczynski.

Lily is sitting alone. Lily's project will not work. Lily's eyes are starting to fill. Kit sees Lily before Sparks does. Kit walks over, sits down, and says four words: I see you need help.

Empathy is the inventor's mindset turned outward. Adult engineers call it "user-centered design." Toddlers call it "I see you." Either way, the lesson is the same: the best makers notice not just objects that need fixing, but people who need a hand. Kit teaches your child that helping is something you can offer before you are asked.

Book 19 also introduces Lily, who becomes a recurring character in Series 2 and Series 3. Lily's project, with Kit's help, becomes something neither child could have made alone. The illustration of Lily and Kit working side by side, with Sparks hovering between them, is one of the warmest spreads in the series.

Illustrated in watercolor with both children's faces visible in close-up on every spread. Sturdy board pages. Free read-along audio. Free educator guide with a "how to help" script for children who want to but don't know what to say.

For parents teaching empathy at home. For preschool teachers running a buddy program. For families raising children who notice the quieter friend at the table.

Written by Chris Kuczynski, an engineer for the first twelve years of his career, then a registered patent attorney, and a co-founder of a preschool. He wrote the Kit's Little Sparks series to give two to four year-olds the language of invention long before kindergarten.

Help a friend who is feeling stuck this week. Practice empathy and offer to help solve a problem together. Book 20 is where Kit makes the promise that closes Series 1 and opens everything that comes next.