Teaching the concept of perseverance can sometimes be difficult, and I have found certain books to be very helpful! For the month of January, our PBIS topic at our school is perseverance. Here are 5 of my favorite books on Perseverance for your students in Elementary school.
Perseverance Books List
- Claymates-written by Dev Petty and illustrated by Laurent Elderidge
- Even Superheroes Have Bad Days-written by Shelly Becker and illustrated by Eda Kaban
- The Most Magnificent Thing-written and illustrated by Ashely Spires
- Rickey The Rock That Couldn’t Roll-written by Jay Miletsky and illustrated by Erin Wozniak
- Giraffes Can’t Dance-written by Giles Andreae and illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees
- Claymates: This is one of my favorite perseverance books for so many reasons! The entire book is a tribute to stop motion animation storytelling and is just so much fun to read and is so engaging for students. The two main characters are made out of clay and go on an image changing adventure together. The result is adorable characters who work together to create fun experiences together. I connect this to cooperative Perseverance. The main characters work hard together to go on their adventure, and sometimes the outcomes were a bit unintentional and there could be consequences, but they kept going. Their adventure together was important to them.
2. Even Superheroes Have Bad Days: This is such an adorable story for elementary school students of how superheroes can struggle with managing feeling and self-regulating their behaviors. What I love about this story is that the author depicts the superhero characters in both a positive and negative light, depending on their ability persevere and control their behaviors.
The story shares how the decisions of the superheroes directly affect others around them. I use this book to teach about using perseverance to manage hard feelings or bad days and to recognize that everyone has hard or uncomfortable feelings sometimes.
3. The Most Magnificent Thing: This book is one of the best blatant examples of perseverance and has engaging images. The main character and her trusted friend go on a mission to create something amazing and new. This book beautifully discusses and illustrates the emotional journey that you go on when trying new things. Feelings of excitement, determination, frustration, anger, exhaustion, and finally acceptance take over as she attempts to make something magnificent. At the end, she gets exactly what she was hoping to.
4. Ricky The Rock That Couldn’t Roll: This story is such a beautiful example of how people can help each other persevere. The story talks about Ricky, a rock that was frustrated about not being able to roll like the other rocks, as much as he tried, he was not able to accomplish his goal. Nevertheless, with a little help, he was able to succeed. Traditionally, when students learn about perseverance, it is taught as an independent struggle or an obstacle to overcome, what I like about this book, is that it promotes having great people around you to support and cheer you on during your difficult journey or task.
5. Giraffes Can’t Dance: This adorable story is about a giraffe that loves dancing but does not think he is good enough to dance. He even has some other animals make fun of him when he tries to dance in public. Upset, he loses his confidence and self-esteem. During his time of sadness, another friend comes along and helps him feel better. This story talks about how looking at things from other perspectives and to be positive.
Using engaging books is a fun way to teach elementary student s about perseverance! Considering using a couple of these books to show perseverance from different perspectives and outcomes!