Young Children

Meet Beatrice Bottomwell, a nine-year-old girl who has never (not once!) made a mistake. She never forgets her math homework, she never wears mismatched socks, and she ALWAYS wins the yearly talent show at school. In fact, Beatrice holds the record of perfection in her hometown, where she is known as The Girl Who Never Makes Mistakes. Life for Beatrice is sailing along pretty smoothly until she does the unthinkable. She makes her first mistake. And in a very public way!

This is an important lesson for kids to learn, that it’s ok to make mistakes. This is not an easy lesson to learn because you are often scolded if you do something wrong. Or at least that’s how it feels.

This is a lesson I still need to learn. I put a lot of pressure on myself to write a profound-sounding review for each book, and I struggle to find the right words. I am constantly making mistakes when I write these reviews; blanking on how to spell a simple word, clicking on the wrong key, losing my train of thought, and for the life of me, I cannot write the word ‘story’ quickly without it coming out like ‘sotry.’ It starts to wear on me after a certain point.

There’s a lot of pressure to be perfect, but when you cut yourself some slack, you realize the world isn’t going to end by you making a mistake.