THE THING LOU COULDN'T DO- Ashley Spires

I was at the library, allegedly grading papers, over the weekend, when I stumbled across THE THING LOU COULDN'T DO, by Ashley Spires, author of THE MOST MAGNIFICENT THING (also the BINKY THE SPACE CAT series although I had never connected the two).

Lou and her friends, accompanied by Lou's cat,  are playing outside one day, when the friends decide they should play pirates. Up in a tree. Lou has never climbed a tree and is more than a little afraid. She makes all kinds of excuses, and tries to convince her friends that they should play pirates on the ground. Her friends are insistent however, and ultimately Lou is forced to face her fears and try climbing the tree.

What I loved, loved, loved the most is that even when Lou decides she will climb the tree, she fails! She doesn't climb the tree the first time she tries! The book ends with Lou and her friends are running off to play in another part of the yard, and Lou saying she can't climb the tree, not YET anyway. Such an important lesson for kids to learn about failure!

A really fun new picture book that would work perfectly in a unit on growth mindset or facing your fears. I'm buying this one to read in classes those first few weeks of school!