Trying

by Kobi Yamada, Elise Hurst (Illustrator)

Overview

How will you know what's possible if you don't try?

This is a story for anyone who has ever felt like a beginner, or had doubts, or worried they weren't good enough. It's a story for those who have experienced the pain of trying something new and not having it turn out as they had hoped.

Written by New York Times best-selling author Kobi Yamada, this captivating book celebrates the way failure is the just the beginning of the journey. With alluring black-and-white illustrations and a powerful message, this beautiful tale is about how failure has so much to offer—lessons that help us learn, grow, and discover all the amazing things we can do.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781970147285
Publisher:	APG Sales & Distribution
Publication date:	12/15/2020
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	19,366
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 10.50(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	5 Years

About the Author

Kobi Yamada is a New York Times best-selling author, the creator of many inspiring books, and the president of Compendium, a company of amazing people doing amazing things. Kobi feels grateful to share his life with his gregarious family in the Pacific Northwest where he can hope, dream, create—and yes, even fail¬¬.


Elise Hurst is an Australian fine artist, illustrator and author, specializing in books for children. Her most recent book was the illustrated edition of The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, and Girl on Wire by Lucy Estela, which was shortlisted for the Children's Book Council of Australia 2019 Awards. She lives in a house full of books and paintings. From her studio, where black pens and oil paints spill across the desk, magical worlds leap into being. Like something out of Beatrix Potter or Narnia, her friends are rabbits and bears, lions and tigers—and they all have a story to share.

Editorial Reviews

★ 03/01/2021

K-Gr 3—A genderless narrator learns to trust the process enough to fail in this newest inspirational picture book from the author of What Do You Do with an Idea? A sculptor works on grand pieces in a studio setting filled with towering, beautiful works as a child looks on in wonder. This child wishes to do the same but is afraid to take the chance, knowing they might fail. The sculptor provides words of encouragement in the form of gentle platitudes, i.e., "The only way to get where you want to go is take a step in that direction." As the child's self-doubt and frustration mount, the sculptor offers more advice and insight into the artistic process and showing off his own garden of failed work. While the words of the sculptor are familiar truths, it is the gorgeous pencil and watercolor illustrations that make the story a wonder to behold. The sculptor's animal statues benignly watch over almost every scene, as do a growing number of cats, including one that stands out for being orange in a sea of mostly black and white, heavily shaded imagery. The skin colors and ethnicity of both child and sculptor, in the play of gray and shadowed tones, could be almost anything. VERDICT Educators seeking an inspiring read-aloud are sure to warm to this book, which already feels like a classic, with its message of being brave enough to try.—Kristy Pasquariello, Westwood P.L., MA

School Library Journal

★ 2020-11-27
A young visitor to a sculptor’s studio is amazed and impressed as he views the artist at work, asking, “How do you do that?”

The visitor, an older elementary-age kid or maybe a young teen, acknowledges wishing to create something like the art on view, but self-doubt at ever being able to produce such beauty prevents the kid from beginning. What follows is an ongoing, almost Socratic discussion between the visitor and the sculptor. The sculptor exhorts the visitor to try, to make an attempt, and encourages, advises, and pushes his interlocutor to learn from failures and disappointments. As the sculptor does so, he is not loath to shares his own vulnerabilities and haunting thoughts of his mortality. Gradually the visitor becomes a protégé, trying and trying again. As in previous works such as What Do You Do With a Problem? (illustrated by Mae Besom, 2016), Yamada deals with both philosophical and practical questions, maintaining a grounded, direct tone without ever becoming preachy or too highly esoteric. The aspiring artist narrates in the first person from a distance of several years, treasuring the memory of the sculptor’s words, only to be interrupted at the end of the book by a new voice from a new visitor, echoing that first question. Hurst’s black, gray, and white drawings are heavily shaded, imparting a mysterious and ethereal quality. There are fleeting bits of color in the form of an orange studio cat and the sculptor’s green-tinged failures. The characters present White. Young readers and their grown-ups will find much to absorb and discuss.

A gentle, mind-expanding, and thoroughly lovely experience. (Picture book. 7-12)

Kirkus Reviews