What Do You Do With A Chance?

Author: Kobi Yamada
Key Skills: Courage, Bravery, Perseverance, Risk-Taking, Responsible Decision-Making

This author/illustrator combo is AMAZING! I try to get every book that comes out from them!

The first time I read this book aloud was to my first group of fourth graders. We were STRUGGLING with getting to and through our lessons. Every lesson. At the point when I pulled this book out, I was frustrated, the kids were annoyed, we needed something to change. After I read this book, we started discussing chances we’ve had in our lives and whether we took the chance or we let it slip away from us. I shared that getting an education is a chance and we have to grab it every day. I was honestly a little surprised at how greatly this impacted them moving forward. “What are you going to do with this chance?” became a bit of a mantra for all of us. When students started to lose focus, they would ask each other if they were going to pass on this chance. I was amazed at how they all banded together because of this book.

And that is the power of children’s literature! Kids THROUGHOUT elementary school should experience amazing picture books read aloud to them!

This book touches on a lot of character traits that can be discussed: courage, bravery, fear, nervousness, embarrassment, grit, perseverance, and shame. You can discuss the risk-taking that we need to try new things because it’s completely natural to feel nervous and even fear that can come with that. This opens up the conversation to discuss those uncomfortable feelings.

This book is a wonderful resource that supports positive development of Responsible-Decision Making. A worthy book for every classroom library!