We’re several weeks into 2020, but it’s still January, so in my opinion it isn’t too late to set some goals! Over the last few weeks at the library, I got to have some really great conversations with kids about their hopes, dreams and intentions for the months and even years ahead. It’s never too early to encourage kids to start thinking this way, so I wanted to highlight a few books that are great for opening up conversations about goal-setting, perseverance and determination.
The Thing Lou Couldn’t Do by Ashley Spires
This charming story touches on some of the very real obstacles that keep us from trying new things and setting challenging goals for ourselves. Lou is a confident girl who loves to play and have adventures with her friends. But the most recent adventure–tree-climbing–is one that Lou, although she won’t admit it, is clearly feeling very nervous about.
After going through a variety of funny stages of avoidance (excuse-making, sour grapes, desperately grasping for other ways to get up there), Lou finally gathers her courage and gives climbing a try, and…
She fails. She gives it her best shot and with a “THUD!” she hits the ground. I actually love that this story never shows you Lou reaching her goal. Rather, it simply hints that she will be back to try again, because “after all, Lou loves an adventure.”‘ What a great way to teach perseverance and resilience!
Anna Carries Water by Olive Senior, illustrated by Laura James
I love Laura James’ striking illustrations in this book. The vivid colors and chalky accents are really beautiful. In this story, Anna is the youngest of six sibling, who make a journey to the well each day to gather water for their family. She is the only one who can’t yet balance her water container on her head, and she very much wants to be able to do what her big brothers and sisters can.
After a soggy failed attempt, Anna’s sisters encourage her to be patient with herself. Eventually, Anna (driven by a fear of cows) ends up running with her water balanced up top and doesn’t spill a drop! It’s a funny and cheerful ending and could lead to great conversations about the importance of being kind and patient toward yourself and accepting where you are during each stage of the journey toward a goal.
Tallulah Plays the Tuba by Tiffany Stone, illustrated by Sandy Nichols
Tallulah’s powerful lungs, strong muscles and ability to read sheet music make her the perfect candidate to play tuba in the school band–which is the thing she wants “more than anything.” But there’s one snag…Tallulah is tiny. Much too tiny to reach the tuba’s looming mouthpiece. But she refuses to give up on her dream! A favorite moment for me is when Tallulah rejects the band teacher’s suggestion of the piccolo, declaring that its sound is “much too small.”
After an exhausting and hilarious series of attempts to make herself taller for the tuba (eating giant steaks to grow, perching herself atop her classmates’ in a human pyramid), Tallulah almost gives up. But then…
She thinks WAY outside the box and digs a hole for her tuba, bringing it down to her level. She explains, that she wasn’t too tiny after all, the tuba was just too big. “But,” she pluckily asserts, “I fixed that.”
I love Tallulah’s willingness to try a bunch of different strategies to solve her problem. (This is a skill a lot of kids struggle with and need help learning.) If one technique doesn’t work, try another!
Each of these books offer a great segue into making…vision boards! This is a great activity to do with kids of any age because even if they aren’t strong readers yet, they can express their hopes, wishes and dreams through images. Depending on the age of the child, you can pre-cut images for them to sift through, or you can just hand over magazines and let them go wild (be prepared to accept some chaos). For tips on how to draw the most meaningful experience out of making vision boards with kids, I highly recommend Yanique Chambers’ guide on KiddieMatters.com, which includes a great goal-setting worksheet to help kids get started.
During these first few weeks of the new year, we’ve been vision board-ing up the wazoo at the library. It’s really fun to see what images the kids are drawn to. I had them do some goal-brainstorming before bringing out the pictures, but they definitely took further inspiration from the browsing as well.
