The Book of Mistakes

Author/Illustrator: Corinna Luyken
Key Skills: Self-Efficacy, Self-Awareness, Growth Mindset, Creativity, Optimism, Problem Solving

This is the FIRST book I read to my class on the first day of school. I’ve done it for the last 5 years and I will continue to read it on the first day for the rest of my teaching career! This book is so beautiful, whimsical, and proves a point I want each student to understand from the start: this classroom is a safe space for mistakes.

I also get my students familiar with this statement: “Are we perfect creatures?” “NO!” “Is that okay?” “YES!”

The illustrations are what make this book truly spectacular! The narrator is basically walking the reader through their artistic decisions based off the different mistakes being made with their art (which are the illustrations). As the book goes on, their artistic landscape grows and grows to the point where there is SO MUCH to the piece of art, that you can’t see the mistakes and yet, something truly magnificent has been created because of those mistakes.

The uniqueness of this book sticks with the kids too! As a class, we read it on the first day. For the rest of the year, the students love to choose it from our class library and we reference it constantly. There aren’t many books that have this lasting impact with students!

Are you interested in buying this book? CLICK HERE to check it out at AbeBooks where you can purchase books at a cheaper price than Amazon!