Every child who's ever poured their whole heart into something knows the feeling: what happens when it falls apart anyway? For Liana - a young lion cub inventor with a jungle workbench and a head full of big ideas - that moment arrives the day her greatest invention yet crashes in front of everyone.
Liana had worked so hard. She measured, adjusted, and added piece after piece, certain that if her flying machine wasn't the greatest invention the jungle had ever seen, it wasn't good enough. When it crumples into gears and broken springs, she's left wondering if maybe she wasn't enough either. It takes the patient wisdom of Gerry the Giraffe - and the steady presence of her friends Ellie, Max, Rico, and Tom - for Liana to discover something more valuable than a perfect invention: the courage to try again.
Liana Learns to Try Again: A Lion Cub's Discovery of Resilience is a heartfelt picture book for children ages 6-8 about grit, growth, and the freedom that comes from letting go of "perfect." It's a story for every child who has ever built something with their whole heart and watched it break - and for every grown-up who knows what it costs to keep going.
With a young Black girl inventor as its heroine, the book continues to celebrate girls in STEM and the strength of friendship - while gently opening conversations about failure, self-worth, and perseverance that families don't always know how to start. A perfect read-aloud for home, the classroom, and counseling settings.
Themes: resilience, grit, growth mindset, self-worth beyond achievement, embracing mistakes, girls in STEM, and friendship.
Every copy includes a free downloadable Guide for Grown-Ups - with age-grouped discussion questions, family activities, and conversation starters for talking about failure and perseverance.