Where the ideas come from
The stories are silly on purpose. The ideas underneath them are not.
Where the ideas come from: 18 books for adults on growth mindset, resilience and children's feelings. The list below is the one printed in the free Parent & Teacher Guide: the idea behind each chapter, and the books on it. You don't need any of them to use the stories.
Introduction & Chapter 1 · Setbacks happen to everyone; what matters is what you do next
- Kenneth R. Ginsburg and Martha M. Jablow, Building Resilience in Children and Teens, 4th ed. (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2020)
- Michele Borba, Thrivers (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2021)
Chapter 2 · Magic Pause: naming and calming big feelings
- Marc Brackett, Permission to Feel (Celadon Books, 2019)
- Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson, The Yes Brain (Bantam Books, 2018)
- Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson, The Whole-Brain Child (Delacorte Press, 2011). Source of the "name it to tame it" idea.
Chapter 3 · Oops-and-Adjust: mistakes are clues, not verdicts
- Carol S. Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, updated ed. (Ballantine Books, 2016)
- Reshma Saujani, Brave, Not Perfect (Currency, 2019)
Chapter 4 · Tiny Brave Step: courage in small steps
- Angela Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance (Scribner, 2016)
- BJ Fogg, Tiny Habits (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019)
Chapter 5 · Plan B Power: flexibility when a plan falls apart
- Ross W. Greene, Raising Human Beings (Scribner, 2016)
- William Stixrud and Ned Johnson, The Self-Driven Child (Viking, 2018)
Chapter 6 · The Power of Yet: growth mindset and the inner critic
- Carol S. Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, updated ed. (Ballantine Books, 2016). Home of "the power of yet."
- Kristin Neff, Fierce Self-Compassion (Harper Wave, 2021)
Chapter 7 · Reset Button: reframing a bad day and finding the good
- David D. Burns, Feeling Great (PESI Publishing, 2020). On the "bad-day glasses" (cognitive distortions).
- Robert A. Emmons, The Little Book of Gratitude (Gaia, 2016). On "find one good thing" (gratitude).
Chapter 8 · Fixing It: repairing a friendship
- Eileen Kennedy-Moore and Christine McLaughlin, Growing Friendships (Beyond Words / Simon & Schuster, 2017)
- Harriet Lerner, Why Won't You Apologize? (Touchstone, 2017)
Chapter 9 · What Did It Teach Me?: growth from setbacks
- Angela Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance (Scribner, 2016)
- Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant, Option B (Alfred A. Knopf, 2017)
Chapter 10 · Your Bounce-Back Toolkit: putting the nine powers together
- This chapter gathers the tools; the resilience books above (Ginsburg and Jablow; Borba) speak to using them together.
For adults, more broadly
- Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson, The Power of Showing Up (Ballantine Books, 2020)
The free companion kit has all nine powers on one page, the read-aloud playbook, the classroom version and the shields to color in.