First things first. Author Ruth Soukup sent me a free copy of her children’s book, How Big Is Your Brave? in exchange for an honest article. So, this is a quick post doing just that. Side note: I might add a book review section to my site since I enjoyed this so much! What do you think? Okay, on to the content!
How Big Is Your Brave? Is a children’s book based on Ruth Soukup’s best-seller Do It Scared. When the book arrived in the mail, my girls were very excited! Our library has been closed since March so they were thrilled just to get a new book.
The following is the official description of the book:
“New York Times bestselling author Ruth Soukup’s mission is to empower children everywhere to dream big and live a life they LOVE. How Big Is Your Brave? encourages readers to face their fears and overcome obstacles in order to follow their dreams and reach their goals.
In this inspiring story, a young bunny named Zippy dreams of traveling to outer space. When the opportunity to attend space camp arrives, she worries she might not be capable enough to compete with the other kids. But Zippy’s desire to build her own rocket is bigger than her fear of failing, and through hard work and creativity she ends up making her big dreams come true.”
The story is empowering for children, teaching the lesson that being brave doesn’t mean you never feel scared, but it means you still take action even when you feel scared. Most importantly, the question, “How big is your brave?” gives parents a new tool in their box.
Only a couple of days after we read this book, my daughter was at the clinic, getting her blood drawn for the first time. She looked at me, scared, emotional, and really sick. Of course, I tried to reassure her that it wouldn’t be so bad and that she would be okay; however, it wasn’t until I said to her, “How big is your brave?” that she responded. The twinkle in her blue eyes said it all and she sailed through with no tears!
Today, my youngest daughter was riding her bike on a gravel road. She still has training wheels, but has recently become strong enough to go for a bike ride. In any case, she hit some loose gravel and wiped out. In reality, the scrape was tiny, but it was a big deal to her. I encouraged her to get back on the bike, but she refused. Then, I tried to convince her to just ride back home to no avail. I then asked, “How big is your brave?” And she whimpered, “Well, maybe I could go a little further.”
She didn’t just get back on the bike. She got on and rode down the road further before turning around to come back.
The question itself is not a magical fix for every problem, but what I love is that it gets children thinking about what they can choose to do. It’s not me saying, “You can do it! You’re brave!” It’s my daughter actually thinking about what it takes for her to be brave in that moment. She takes ownership of her “brave.”
I didn’t find the actual story line to be overly imaginative; however, I think that was perhaps one of the goals of the author. It is a realistic situation that a child may find himself or herself in, thus, making the characters more relatable to young children. They can picture themselves in the characters’ shoes and in situations of their own in which they may need to be brave to try something new.
While I typically prefer books that encourage children to imagine all sorts of amazing, made-up things, How Big Is Your Brave? encourages children to dream big and to overcome fear in order to make their own dreams come true in a realistic way. With its stunning illustrations and its positive message, this book will remain on our shelves years after my children have outgrown it!
RElated: Raising Resilient Kids