PPBF: When Things Aren't Going Right, Go Left

Today I'm still feeling grateful for my recent trip home.

It truly was a picturesque Wisconsin winter wonderland weekend.

It gave me a new spring in my step.

Just like today's PPBF did.

Title: When Things Aren't Going Right, Go Left

Words: Marc Colagiovanni

Artwork: Peter H. Reynolds

Publisher: Orchard Books

Birth date: March 7, 2023

Themes: anxiety, resilience, growth mindset

Brief synopsis: Having a bad day? What can you let go of and leave behind?

Opening page: One day, for no particular reason, nothing was going right.

Resources: Enjoy a read-aloud on YouTube {here}.

Order the book at the Dot Central {here}.

Read a Kirkus review {here}.

Read a Common Sense Media review {here}.

Check out this blog post about the book.

Find an enrichment activity idea {here}.

Why I like this book: As you may already know, I love words and creative wordplay so SO much, so this treasure captured my heart immediately. Go left? Yep, but not just the other direction. Left as in left behind. In the story, our narrator is having the proverbial terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. (Wait, is his name Alexander?) But, instead of stress about what wasn't going right, he goes left by leaving behind his worries, doubts, frustrations, etc. Leaves them right there on the ground, despite their sneers and jeers. The personification that the author gives to the worries and doubts breathes an extra layer of life into the book.

"Where are you going?"

"Wait, come back. What will happen to us?"

"You're making a mistake; are you sure you're making the right decision?"

This gem, brilliantly illustrated by the talented Peter H. Reynolds, doesn't just tell kids to lay down their burdens and be done with it. Nope. Instead, he simply lets the narrator pick them back up and guess what? They don't feel as heavy anymore. Ahhhh, the power of taking a break.

Of deep breathing.

Of just BEing.

Use it as a springboard to help your students unpack and share the strategies that they use when life gets overwhelming and nothing seems to be going right. Encourage them to make a little booklet or draw their promising practices on index cards, then hole punch them and put them on an O ring.

Or use it as a goal-setting tool to see which skills or traits are going right and which things are better left behind. Encourage them to trace their hands onto card stock; write something on each finger and/or use the whole hand. Notice how the hands form a heart when they meet at the thumbs. Talk through how much happier their hearts will be when they ditch the heavy stuff and choose what feels right.