Sometimes You Fly, by Katherine Applegate and Jennifer Black Reinhardt

In our kitchen, we have a large picture frame with quotes that I rotate on a semi-weekly basis. The quotes are mostly motivational and growth mindset based. Some of them are from books we’ve read, others are just unattributable mantras that most adults have come across, but that I hope will inspire my kids to improve in kindness and courage. One of the quotes is: “What if I fall?” “Oh, my darling, but what if you fly?”. So when I saw Sometimes You Fly I was drawn to it and knew I wanted us to have a chance to read it.

Sometimes You Fly walks kids through various potential episodes of their life, be it making friends, graduating or first love, and helps them see that all these events didn’t just happen by accident. There was a period of learning, working, thinking, planning, waiting and often failing before success was achieved.

When we are in the childhood phase of our lives it is easy to look at what grown-ups have or are and think about what we want for ourselves. What can sometimes be overlooked – because it is not easy to see – are the hours of practicing a skill that went into refining a talent. We don’t see the mess of the finished product. We don’t see the opportunity cost of success.

This is even more relevant today when it’s so easy to selectively share our lives on social media, editing out the parts that we don’t want others to see. We edit out the learning and progress to make it seem like we just arrived at a milestone by sheer luck.

There are many books designed to motivate, encourage and inspire kids to overcome challenges and achieve their dreams. Sometimes You Fly is fairly obvious about what it is trying to achieve, but does it in the most beautiful, delightful, truthful and poetic way. It shares a message that kids today need more than ever: You might also be able to achieve great things, but it’s going to take your best effort.