Today we’ve got children’s picture books that emphasize kindness and anti-violence, and a new collection about New York from a Twin Cities baker/poet.

“Punch!” >> by Michael Hall (Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins Publishers, $19.99)

It’s always good news for the little ones and grown-ups when there’s a new picture book from nationally known author and graphic artist Hall. Subtitled “A Story About Kindness,” this one tells the story of Badger, who was looking for trouble. And he found it. “Badger tripped Frog/shoved Moose/kicked Elephant/and poked Bear with a shovel.” So Bear makes a three-part plan to teach Badger a lesson. In the end, we realize why Bear is so mean. Key words in big, bold colorful type are “Slug! Smack!”

Badger and all the animals in the story are blocky-bodied and big-eyed as are most of Hall’s funny characters in his previous books, including “Red: A Crayon’s Story,” “Perfect Square,” ‘It’s An Orange Aardvark,” and his 2015 debut, “My Heart Is Like a Zoo,” winner of a Minnesota Book Award.

Hall explains the new book this way: “When I was collecting homophones for my book ‘Cat Tale,’ I noticed an alarming number of them included synonyms for the word ‘hit.’ And I realized that if you were to say someone ‘socked, belted, cuffed, and crowned’ another person, you could mean either that they beat them up or got them dressed. This wordplay eventually led me to write ‘Punch!’, about the power of forgiveness and compassion over the impulse to seek revenge.”

Hall will launch his book, which has received two starred reviews, at 10:30 a.m. Saturday to celebrate Independent Bookstore Day at Red Balloon Bookshop, 891 Grand Ave., St. Paul. At 1 p.m. Drew Brockingham will be at the store to discuss “Kitty Camp,” latest in his Catstronauts graphic novel series.

A more serious picture book is “SPARKING PEACE,” which looks at gun violence in a way children will understand with help from adults. Written by Teresa Kim Pecinovsky and Hannah Roe Martin, illustrated in bold colors by Gabhor Utomo, the story is about a boy who is taken by his father to a forge where the blacksmith heats a piece of metal that an older woman is pounding out in fury into something new: “As the blacksmith works/I see the faces of/people around me./They are sad./Some are crying./The blacksmith invites them/to take the hammer/and swing.” The piece of metal, once a gun barrel, becomes “…a garden tool/A shovel./Something that doesn’t/break hearts.”

This might not make sense to children of picture book age since they are too young to understand “swords into plowshares” (which is not explicitly in the book). But the authors say they are trying to find a way to begin discussions with children about gun violence.

“Sparking Peace” is published by Herald Press in cooperation with RAWtools Inc., a Colorado-based organization that turns guns into garden tools through blacksmithing.

“We Talked About New York” >> by Klecko (Paris Morning Publications, $20)

To be a successful poet

You only have to follow two rules

# 1- Observe

# 2 -Love

it’s really that simple

if you are a poet

if you follow these rules

The fish will jump into the boat — from “We Talked About New York”

“I’ve conquered New York,” Danny Klecko modestly says of his new collection about the sounds and sights of the Big Apple that inspired his 16th book, as well as having his poetry published seven times in the New York Times Metropolitan Diary feature. Add his public interview last year with New York-based actor Isabella Rossellini and you’ve got a book about a tall, multi-tattooed guy from Minnesota whose poems were inspired by E.B. White’s “Here Is New York.”

These poems, told in Klecko’s signature outsider-observing mode, range in topic from kids playing video games on the D-Line subway, his experience reading poems aloud in the rain in Central Park (“nobody paid attention”), to a visit to the Algonquin Hotel, home of the famous writers Round Table, as well as drinking with his entourage in a jazz club.

Instead of writing long poems, Klecko divides them into three and four short sections including Strawberry Fields, Coney Island and Kettle of Fish.

Klecko claims to “talk to everyone,” even (or especially) those who irritate him. He writes about conversing with a woman drummer and a taxi driver who now considers Klecko his brother. But he’s also a listener, as he shows in a poem about a woman with an umbrella who sits with a man having a bad day.

And then there’s Rossellini, who Klecko interviewed on-stage last year during Home For Life Animal Sanctuary’s gala. In 11 short poems he recalls that night and Rossellini’s graciousness, including her familiarity with his skills as a master bread maker: “She never mentioned herself/She never mentioned our show/Instead, she said with an accent/I won’t try to replicate/Good evening Mr. Klecko/What shall we discuss/Your poems/Or your sourdough starter?”

Klecko will launch his book at 4 p.m. April 27 at Black Forest Inn, 1 E. 26th St., Mpls., with guest poet Donna Isaac and poet/essayist Erica Christ. Klecko, who left St. Paul to live in Minneapolis (which he refers to as Babylon), is as much showman as poet. He is proud to say of his audiences: “At first they are stunned … because there is nobody like Klecko.”