One of the books I remember from my childhood is
The Little Engine That Could. In this book, a little steam engine is too small to carry herself and the rest of her train cars up the hill. So she leaves the cars at the bottom and goes to search for help. She eventually finds another young steam engine that is willing to help her and together, the two engines return to the bottom of the hill and begin to pull. Slowly, the other cars start to move. As motivation, they chant "
I-think-I-can, I-think-I-can" until they reach the top of the mountain, where the little steam engine says thank you and sings "I-thought-I-could, I-thought-I-could" as she continues with her journey.
The phrase "I think I can" holds a lot of meaning. The train believed in her ability to find a way to get her cars up the hill, and her self-motivation and determination allowed her to find a solution to the problem. At a young age, children that read this book learn that it is not a weakness to ask others for help, but most importantly that if you think you can do something, you can.
3 comments:
Sorry about the previous post, I signed in on the wrong account. Anyways, I said that I really enjoyed these stories that hid messages about determination and overcoming obstacles. Perhaps these authors wanted to prepare children and their minds for high school and college.
When I was younger, I especially liked the book "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel" because it talked about determination and effort.
I remember this book having a lot of significance in my life as a child! I know it sounds cheesy, but I used to say this in my head when I was given a hard spelling test in the 2nd grade, or trying to make a goal in an AYSO soccer game. Without this book, I don't think I would have learned to follow my goals at a young age.
Post a Comment