Brave Kids: Short Stories to Inspire Future World Changers by Janice Pratt – Review by Shannen Kern

Brave Kids: Short Stories to Inspire Our Future World-Changers by K.J. Kaschula
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a wonderful collection of children’s stories that are short enough for most attention-spans (wiggly worms) and long enough to fit in some good life lessons. The illustrations help draw everyone in and are adored throughout this book. I enjoyed reading this entire collection with my two kids who are 7 and 11. I feel like there were some great conversation starters in each chapter, and we paused to talk about what they would do in each situation or what the underlying issues could be.

Two stories really stood out for me were “Catch Your Thoughts Before They Ruin Your Day” by Samantha Ena Minichiello and “Amaleigha Tames a Bully: Kindness Can Change a Hard Heart” by: Janice Pratt.

Catch Your Thoughts Before They Ruin Your Day is incredibly relatable to me even now because even adults have emotionally turbulent times, and some of us weren’t taught the best coping mechanisms. My kids especially enjoyed it because they have recently been learning about fixed mindset vs growth mindset, so it was really cool timing for this to come into our lives.

Amaleigha Tames a Bully is truly a work of art. Unfortunately, bullies seem to be in every grade at every school, but what happens if we dedicate time to uncovering the root of it all? I loved this because it’s easy to shrug off a bully as a mean person that you should just ignore, but when you have a bad day, week, or month, don’t you just really want to feel needed and loved? This sparked the longest and most compassionate conversation with my kiddos! I highly recommend picking this up for the classroom or your family. There is absolutely something in this collection for everyone!

Reviewed by @shannlynn

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