Rationale:
My children’s picture book ‘Oh Deer’ has been influenced by ‘I Can’t Do That, Yet: Growth Mindset’ by Esther Pia Cordova. ‘I Can’t Do That, Yet’ encourages children not to give up when faced with difficulties and challenges or when feeling apprehensive. The word ‘yet’ in the title motivates children to persevere. My story explores the experience of twin girls ‘Lottie and Dottie’ when faced with a challenge. The focus is to show that our perceptions, of ourselves or a situation, influence our choice to either embrace or withdraw from the scenario. Repetition of the phrases ‘let’s do it’ and ‘you can’ frequently occur in my story to embed positive thinking patterns, fundamental for a growth mindset. My story fuses real-life with fiction by incorporating anthropomorphic characters with genuine human problems. ‘The Colour Monster’ by Anna Llenas influenced me to link colours with emotions in my illustrations and I used a metaphor to describe the character’s physical feeling.
In the story, ‘I Can’t Do That, Yet’ children learn that time is required to be successful. The difference between the phrases “I can’t do that” and “You can’t do that, Yet” is time and persistence (Cordova, 2017). Dottie, one of the main characters in my story, learns this lesson after missing out on playing soccer with her friends. I chose twins to demonstrate the power of perception. Twins have closely related features and are raised in the same environment. However, their reaction to a situation can be significantly different as I show in the story. Lottie has a growth mindset greatly contrasting with Dottie who has a fixed mindset. In the story, Lottie embraces a game of soccer, “let's play”(Dixon, 2021, p.10) and when there is a problem looks for a solution, “I can referee”(Dixon, 2021, p.14). Dottie’s response to the same situation is “I can’t do it, I do not want to play” missing out on the fun game (Dixon, 2021, p.11). Dottie submitted to her fear and anxiety, she addressed the situation by sitting on a log to watch the game. Lottie’s perception of the situation and positive mindset ensured the soccer game was not jeopardised. The story shows children how a growth mindset approach is more successful. When reading my story, children are encouraged to try new activities and to think about their actions before acting upon them.
Throughout my story I use repetition in the phrases ‘let’s do it’ and ‘you can’ because they are more likely to appeal to kids. Most importantly, the phrases are positive; ‘let’s do it’ reinforces a commitment to undertake a task and ‘you can’ reinforce inner confidence of capability. Positive phrases embed positive thinking patterns which are fundamental for a growth mindset. Dottie “remembered seeing how much fun the others had and how encouraging they were” when trying to persuade her to join in the soccer game (Dixon, 2021, p.21). That helped Dottie gain the confidence she needed to try. Before the game, Dottie’s friends encourage her by saying “You can do it” and “Come on Dottie, yes you can” but at that moment she was fixed on the belief that she could not play (Dixon, 2021, p.12). After the soccer game when Dottie tells Lottie that she wishes she could play, Lottie's response is “You can, I know you can” and with persistence and time, Dottie learns to play soccer (Dixon, 2021, p.19). In the story, ‘I Can’t Do That, Yet’, the ‘yet’ makes the phrase positive. I do a similar thing in my story by making ‘can’t’ into ‘can’.
My children’s picture book ‘Oh Deer’ is targeted at kids aged 5-7. The vocabulary in the story is not tricky, suitable reading material for children. Having no soccer goals could have a potential problem. The twins were able to improvise and create them out of sticks and leaves. Lottie improvises during the soccer match when she runs on the field holding a yellow leaf. The yellow leaf symbolises imaginative play being used as a referees yellow warning card. I intended to make ‘Oh Deer’ relatable for both children and parents. My story fuses real-life with fiction by incorporating anthropomorphic characters with genuine human problems. Dottie not wanting to wear her red sweater in the chilly weather is relatable to parents whose children refuse to wear practical attire. Mamma deer gives in, letting Lottie and her sister play “games out in the forest” but in return, Dottie wears her sweater (Dixon, 2021, p.5).
I included the metaphor “Lottie’s cheeks and nose were as pink as a rose” to emphasize the need for sweaters in chilly weather (Dixon, 2021, p.4). In the illustration, her cheeks and nose are pink visually showing that Lottie is cold. ‘The Colour Monster’ influenced me to link the colours in my illustrations with emotions. When Dottie is feeling nervous about playing soccer, the picture primarily consists of black. Black in ‘The Colour Monster’ represents fear. Visual aids support the sentiment I am portraying.
The text looks at developing a growth mindset and my story demonstrates that an individual’s perception may evoke a positive or negative response to a situation. In both stories, the characters discover they had ability and potential within themselves that was hindered by a negative perception. The last page of my story consists of a brief lesson emphasizing the idea that the path to success involves failure, an important lesson for everyone to learn.
References:
Cordova. E. (2017). I Can't Do That, Yet: Growth Mindset. Createspace Independent Publishing Platform.
Dixon, C. (2021). Oh Deer. Chloe DIXON
Llenas. A. (2012). The Colour Monster. Templar Publishing.