Nonfiction Wednesday
Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday is hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy and was started to help promote the reading of nonfiction texts. Most Wednesdays, we will be participating and will review a nonfiction text (though it may not always be a picture book).
Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy and see what other nonfiction books are shared this week!
Famous Fails!: Mighty Mistakes, Mega Mishaps, & How a Mess Can Lead to Success!
Author: Crispin Boyer
Published October 25th, 2016 by National Geographic Children’s Books
Summary: This fun book of quirky failures and famous flops will keep kids laughing while they learn the importance of messing up in order to get it right. Science, architecture, technology, entertainment — there are epic fails and hilarious goof-ups from every important field. Silly side features help to analyze the failures: “Lesson Learned,” “It Could be Worse!,” “Losing Combinations,” and a “Fail Scale” to help readers navigate the different kinds and scope of the mistakes made. The stories will include what went wrong, what went right, and what kids can learn from each failed attempt.
Review: I think one of the greatest lessons for children to learn is that failure doesn’t always equal failure. So many inventions and success began as what many would consider a failure when in actuality it was the beginning of a great thing. Giving up after a failure means you didn’t learn anything from it when failure is one of the best learning experiences. This text goes through hundreds of examples of famous people who failed or failures that became successes–wonderful stories for young people to read.
Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: As I read more and more of National Geographic’s new books like this one, Awesome 8, Book of Heroes/Heroines, Real or Fake?, and others, I’m coming to realize that these texts are made for project-based learning. These books make me question and inquire so many things within them. As I read, I find myself Googling and thinking and wanting to learn more–and I know they’ll do the same for kids.
Discussion Questions: Which famous inventions did you learn that was from a “failure?”; What famous person did you learn about that surprised you with their “failure?”; When is a time that you “failed” and stopped but now you wish you could go back and keep trying?
Flagged Passages:
Read This If You Loved: The Marvelous Thing That Came from a Spring: The Accidental Invention of the Toy That Swept the Nation by Gilbert Ford, Earmuffs for Everyone!: How Chester Greenwood Became Known as the Inventor of Earmuffs by Meghan McCarthy, and other books about inventions; The Book of Heroes by Crispin Boyer & The Book of Heroines by Stephanie Warren Drimmer; and other nonfiction texts about inventors, heroes, failures then successes, and history
Recommended For:
**Thank you to Karen at Media Masters Publicity for providing a copy for review!**
Like you said, I think it’s good to show that failure does not mean it’s over, but an opportunity to look at what can be changed. Good book to show this!
You just have to keep trying to figure things out. This looks like a great book that emphasizes the failures that finally turned into good things! Thanks, Kellee!
This would be a great book to pair with picture book biographies of these inventors. They could be mentor texts to talk about authorial intentions.
I will definite buy this book for myself and my 8-year-old niece. In an era when instant gratification is within a swipe on the phone, it’s hard for us to accept repeated failures to build long-term success. And we definitely need to learn that.