Zach Makes Mistakes

by William Mulcahy, Darren McKee (Illustrator)

Overview

For Zach, a class field trip to the museum is about more than cool exhibits—it’s about learning from mistakes and dealing with feeling embarrassed. First he forgets to wear his field trip shirt, then he forgets the rule about not touching displays. His teacher helps him see that everyone makes mistakes—and how to use them to grow and develop a growth mindset. Using an easy-to-remember tool, the Key to Mistakes, she shows Zach and readers a simple three-step process:

1. Detect (find the reason for the mistake)
2. Correct (fix the mistake if you can)
3. Reflect (think back about your mistake to find what you can learn from it)

A short note is included to help teachers, parents, counselors, and other adults reinforce the book’s messages and practice the Key to Mistakes when kids are feeling embarrassed.

Zach Rules Series
Zach struggles with social issues like getting along, handling frustrations, making mistakes, and other everyday problems typical of young kids. Each book in the Zach Rules series presents a single, simple storyline involving one such problem. As each story develops, Zach and readers learn straightforward tools for coping with their struggles and building stronger relationships now and in the future.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781631981104
Publisher:	Free Spirit Publishing
Publication date:	08/18/2016
Series:	Zach Rules Series
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	933,453
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.10(d)
Lexile:	AD580L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

William “Bill” Mulcahy, MS, LPC, LMHC, NCC, is a licensed professional counselor, psychotherapist, author and of books and tools for teaching children to cope with the challenges of life in the 21st century.

Bill has served as a supervisor at Family Services of Waukesha, WI, as a counselor at Stillwaters Cancer Support Services, at Empathia Inc., as an employee assistance professional, and has worked with children with special needs. He has been in private practice since 2016.

He is also the father of seven children including two children on the autism spectrum and lives in Venice, Florida with his wife, Melissa.

Editorial Reviews

Finally, a book that gives people a creative yet concrete strategy for learning from mistakes. Readers of all ages will get something out of this story!

Julia Cook

I read this aloud with my kids and we laughed at the various pickles Zach finds himself in. I love how this book provides a step-by-step process for dealing with the frustration of making mistakes. As a master of making mistakes, I’m going to use it myself!

Mark Pett

For young Zach, a class field trip to the museum is about more than cool exhibits—it is also about learning from mistakes and dealing with embarrassment. His teacher helps him see that everyone makes mistakes—and how to use them to grow using an easy-to-remember tool, the Key to Mistakes. The latest addition to author William Mulcahy’s outstanding Zach Rules series for boys and girls, Zach Makes Mistakes, is appropriate and highly recommended for elementary school and community library collections for young readers.

From the Publisher

For young Zach, a class field trip to the museum is about more than cool exhibits—it is also about learning from mistakes and dealing with embarrassment. His teacher helps him see that everyone makes mistakes—and how to use them to grow using an easy-to-remember tool, the Key to Mistakes. The latest addition to author William Mulcahy’s outstanding Zach Rules series for boys and girls, Zach Makes Mistakes, is appropriate and highly recommended for elementary school and community library collections for young readers.

Midwest Book Review

2016-06-22
Zach's inattention to rules on a field trip results in a couple of embarrassing faux pas, but with help from a friend and a teacher he learns how to deal.As in the two previous Zach Rules episodes, the plot is just a vehicle for conveying coping strategies and constructive responses for less-than-exemplary behaviors. Already mortified to be wearing a humongous school T-shirt on the trip because he forgot to wear his own, Zach is further distressed when he forgets the museum's "no touching" rule and pats an exhibited bison. But thanks to classmate Sonya's laughing tale of wearing a costume by mistake to a formal party and Ms. Rosamond's failure to turn her cellphone off as directed, he doesn't feel quite so bad. Better yet, Ms. Rosamond sits with him to demonstrate a three-step "Detect-Correct-Reflect" response to messing up and remind him that nobody, child or grown-up, is perfect. For adults who can't absorb these points from the story, Mulcahy, a professional counselor and psychotherapist, restates them at greater length in smaller type at the end. The default expression in McKee's cartoon illustrations is fixed, popeyed, and open-mouthed. Zach himself is a light-skinned redhead, but overall the cast displays a range of hair colors and skin tones. Not simplistic but relentlessly utilitarian. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews