What better time to teach children about perseverance and achieving their dreams than when reading a colorful and fun-filled picture book they would never forget?

The Gritty Little Lamb by Dan Allbaugh may just be the book you need to impart to your kids priceless lessons about hope, honesty and the value of hard work to achieve the things they want in life.

Filled with attractive illustrations that would capture their interest, they would quickly be able to relate to the main character of the story. They would see a kid just like them who enjoyed playing games and who wanted to feel the joy of winning each time. Can they win each time? What happens in times when they fail to reach their goals?

Some people go through life not knowing how to overcome their failures. They quit, they argue, they even cheat their way to success. Had they learned their lesson when they were young, they could have had better tools to turn their defeat into true victory.

This book shows how parents can encourage their children after encountering defeat. It provides a safe environment to process one’s emotions and to figure out the best option to choose when faced with challenges in reaching one’s goals.

While it’s not easy even for adults to never give up after the experience of failure, this book helps provide a simple yet effective path to pursue in a playful and entertaining way. Narrated through the use of rhymes, the story is easy to recall and can even be memorized! Parents and children could enjoy precious moments of bonding while learning nuggets of wisdom that would equip the child for life.

This book review first appeared in Reedsy Discovery.