The debut picture book by Academy Award-winning actor and #1 New York Times bestselling author Matthew McConaughey
Just because I’m in the race, doesn’t mean I’m fully ready. Just because I’m shaking, doesn’t mean that I’m not steady.
Have you ever felt worried and excited at the same time?
Have you ever had your feelings hurt but forgiven someone anyway?
Have you ever thought there was more than one right answer to a question?
That’s because contradictions are all around us. And they make us who we are.
Filled with his trademark humor and wisdom, Academy Award–winning actor and #1 New York Times bestselling author Matthew McConaughey has crafted a soulful and irreverent collection of life lessons that empowers readers, big and small, to celebrate how we are all full of possibility.
Why? Just because.---from the publisher
32 pages 978-0593622032 Ages 4-8
Keywords: conduct of life, empowerment, self respect, self acceptance, 4 year old, 5 year old, 6 year old, 7 year old, 8 year old, Social Emotional Learning SEL
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Just because I’m in the race, doesn’t mean I’m fully ready. Just because I’m shaking, doesn’t mean that I’m not steady.
Using a series of rhyming couplets accompanying compelling vignettes, this new book could be your mindfulness program for the term as it explores "the contradictions and complexities that exist in each of us" as we try to navigate what we believe and what we confront, what we expect and what we experience. By focusing on each situation and unpacking it, young readers begin to understand that their world is not black and white, that there are those fifty shades of grey and there are layers to both their feelings and their relationships as they learn about finding common ground and compromise without betraying their own beliefs and needs.
“Just because I forgive you, doesn’t mean that I still trust.
There’s what you do, there’s what I do, and yours is not my must.”
As our little ones mature, they are able to move beyond their hands-on, here-and-now view of the world and begin to think on a more abstract level where they can see things from the perspective or others, understand cause and effect, consider what-ifs and maybes, be more flexible and able to delve into underlying meanings. This book offers a wide range of readily recognisable situations that offer lots of opportunities to discuss what the words mean and what the child might do in a similar situation as well as beginning to understand metaphorical language. For example, Just because they threw the dart doesn't mean it stuck not only lends itself to considering when we should take notice of criticism but also whether a dart was physically thrown.
There are many books that are released with a celebrity's name on the front cover automatically giving them publicity but then the hype doesn't live up to the reality, but this one deserves all it gets. Whether it's in a family library or the teacher's toolkit to pull out at opportune moments, it provides possibilities for all sorts of learning as we guide our little ones to be the sorts of adults we want them to be.
Recommended by: Barbara Braxton, Teacher Librarian, New South Wales AUSTRALIA
See more of her recommendations:
500 Hats http://500hats.edublogs.org/
The Bottom Shelf http://thebottomshelf.edublogs.org/
Storybook Cushions http:// bit.ly/storybook_cushions
