"I remembered the pain
and how scared I was.
I started thinking -
Maybe I shouldn't
try this again?
So you know what I did?
I left behind my fears.
Yup!"
I like the sentiment of this book. When nothing is going right, what can a person do? Marc Colagiovanni suggests changing the trajectory of the path you are on ... go left! The earnest narrator is quick to explain that by going left worries are left behind. Put them down and walk away.
Peter Reynolds' illustrations show him walking away from a box filled with worries. The worries, pictured as small, red monsters, do their best to get him to come back. They are worried about themselves, and want someone to be concerned about what will happen to them. On the child walks. Doubts arise, and they soon are also left on the ground to fend for themselves. They are not pleased.
Are the decisions made the right ones? Well, all worries and doubts ARE left on their own. Thinking clearly about what comes next is the promising result of those actions. Arriving at a pool, with its high diving board, brings a memory of an earlier time of pain. Fearing that another try might bring the same result, he puts down those fears and climbs the ladder. Yep, it stung just as much the second time. Oh, well. Put those frustrations where all worries, doubts, and fears now have a place ... on the ground.
Give it another try! A perfect dive is the amazing result.
"I started to realize, the more left I went,
the more right I felt!"
It's a message that works best for kids old enough to take it to heart, and do their best to try to change how things are going in their lives. Their ability to think abstractly about the things that tend to weigh them down (and we are learning there are many) will allow them to hear this message that has them looking to let go of as much as they can ... for a while at least.
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