Let's try again another day by Charlotte Barkla & Jade Goodwin

When a child is young, they learn lots of things: from crawling to letters and numbers, colours, how to kick a ball, speaking and dancing, rolling over. And as time goes on, they learn to say hello and goodbye, say sorry, make friends, and ask why. Some will learn to play an instrument, some to dance, sing and act, some love numbers, some play a range of sports. The thing about this range of skills, sports, numbers and so on is that it all started somewhere, perhaps unsteadily at first, but practice and perseverance enable kids to find their way.    

This is the basis of this book, encouraging young people to try and try again. Not to be despondent about not being the best at the start, but to keep on trying.  There will always be days when things don’t go their way, shoelaces will be untied, paint will splatter everywhere, numbers will simply not match up. Angry words will be spoken, toys thrown across the yard, others may seem more competent, and tears will fall.      

But mistakes are part of learning, others may help, they may ask for help or try again. Just as bodies grow and develop so do brains and if we don’t get things straight away there is always another day.

A gentle reminder to children and adults that learning is a continuum, things are learnt over time, some things take a long time to master, some only a short time, but however people learn, there is always another day to try again.

Coupled with colourful usually smiling kids, the message will not be lost on young readers. They will all have had some moments of frustration, convinced that a skill they are trying to master will not be learnt. But trying again is at the heart of this picture book, the children in the pictures doing just that.

Themes: Perseverance, Brains.

Fran Knight