A heartwarming tale of friendship and empathy. Feeling troubled, George takes Patrick on a journey through rocky mountains, deep ravines and a rushing river. Patrick tries his best to help George across these obstacles. Together, they discover problem solving isn't as important as walking beside someone on their journey. This story will introduce empathy through an engaging adventure between two best friends. Written by Jessica Urlichs who is an author and mother to three young children. She is passionate about finding ways to help young children understand and express their emotions through storytelling and poetry. Illustrated by Craig Phillips, with parent/teacher notes written by Rebekah Lipp from Wildling Books. What is empathy? Empathy is a feeling of understanding or being aware of how another person is feeling or what they are experiencing. Being empathetic means you are able to listen to others, even those who are different from you. How is this emotion helpful? This emotion helps us to see things from a different point of view, from someone else's perspective. It can drive us to want to help other people. This is so important for our world because if we can feel empathy for one another, we can create a more peaceful place. Being empathetic means we care for others' wellbeing and happiness. Does everyone feel empathy? No, we must learn to be empathetic. Teaching this to our children is very important if we want to live in a better world. We can role model this to our children and others around us by actively listening and then repeating back what we heard from the person we were listening to. Some children/people who are neurodiverse may have trouble picking up social cues, or some may feel things very deeply and are very attuned to others' feelings. While both care, sometimes they need a little extra support and help to navigate this. When you can imagine how another person feels by putting yourself in their place, that is empathy.

• Publication Date: 13/08/2024