The Montclair Public Library invites families with children in grades K to 8 to join us for The Courage To Care: Inspiring a New Generation on Sunday, April 26, 2026 @ 3:00 PM at the Main Branch.
Compelling research on well-being and reducing stress shows that a commitment to helping others may be one key to happiness for all ages. Seeing ourselves as part of something bigger, as making a difference in someone else’s life, can provide our own lives with a sense of purpose and meaning. Children’s literature has always explored the importance of kindness, helping and standing up for others, and moral courage.
The April 26th event will feature Montclair authors Dan Gill and Janice Cohn, who will read from their respective books, No More Chairs and Freedom Pancakes for Ukraine. Both books explore moral courage in ways that resonate with children today. Additionally, several middle school and high school students, who were honored as Upstanders at the library’s event in December, will read excerpts from favorite books to inspire young people to act with kindness and compassion or to advocate for their community. A book list curated by students attending Montclair’s public and private middle schools and high schools will be available as a takeaway.
About Dr. Janice Cohn
Dr. Janice Cohn is a psychotherapist who specializes in helping adults and children cope with grief, loss, and life transitions. Her noted book, Raising Compassionate, Courageous Children In A Violent World (Longstreet Press) and her former newspaper column for The Washington Times, Instilling Compassion, focused on the importance of raising compassionate and morally courageous children. Janice Cohn’s most recent children’s book is Freedom Pancakes for Ukraine.
About Dan Gill
Dan Gill is a children’s book author and a lifelong educator who spent more than fifty years teaching social studies at Glenfield Middle School in Montclair, New Jersey. A passionate storyteller and advocate for empathy, Dan lives in New Jersey with his family. No More Chairs is his first picture book, inspired by a powerful experience from his own childhood. With the publication of No More Chairs, Dan invites readers of all ages to reflect on the meaning of allyship, inclusion, and compassion.