Valentine’s Day is creeping closer, and soon enough stores will be full of red and pink heart-shaped decorations. Before the bombardment of love-infused marketing takes hold, start a conversation with your little ones about love and how it ties in to kindness, family, and respect. Any of these 18 children’s picture books about love are a great jumping off point for conversation. For some other children’s picture books about kindness, visit some more lists of books promoting celebrating LGBT love and diversity.

A simple, easy book about how acts of kindness can beget more acts of kindness. Farm animals illustrate this lesson.

LISTENING WITH MY HEART: A STORY OF KINDNESS AND SELF-COMPASSION BY GABI GARCIA AND YING HUI TAN

Esperanza‘s role in the school play doesn’t go how she expected, so she has to remember to be kind to herself about it. A great reminder for kids and their adults to love themselves.

That’s it! Those are my suggestions for children’s books about love to share with your beloveds. Let me know if I missed anything.