When Things Aren’t Going Right, Go Left

I love ‘The Dot’, Peter H. Reynolds’s timeless and inspirational story about creativity, perseverance and self-confidence, celebrating ‘Dot Day’ every year. He has written and illustrated many other books, each of which carries a very positive, self-affirming message. They are perfect for using in school- for individual classes, for assemblies, for whole school projects- and each with Reynolds’s wonderful illustrations.

‘When Things Aren’t Going Right, Go Left’, written by Marc Colagiovanni and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds, is an inspirational story about making a choice about how to deal with worries, frustrations, fears and doubts.

The little boy at the heart of the story is faced with a day when nothing is going right. So, he decides to go left- leaving all his worries, doubts, fears and frustrations behind. He perseveres, finds the courage to try again and realises that the more he does this, the more ‘right’ he feels. The wonderfully positive, affirming message is simply, but directly told, perfect for sharing with children and offering strategies for coping with being overwhelmed or overcoming adversity.

Language play, a direct, optimistic tone and lovely artwork make this an appealing text to use with any age group as its message is as relevant to adults as it is to children. The guidance it offers is full of optimism, reminding the reader they have the power to choose to ‘go left’ and ask for help when needed. It is a joyful book- one for sharing again and again.

When Things Aren’t Going Right, Go Left!

Marc Colagiovanni, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds

Scholastic ISBN: 978-0702324765

You can read my review of ‘Our Table’ here , ‘Playing from the Heart’ here and ‘The Word Collector’ here.