Fly Fly Again – Review

Fly Fly Again by Katie Jaffe and Jennifer Lawson. I’ve always loved flight. From building paper airplanes and flying kites as a kid to showing my kids how to do all these awesome things. Of course, we’ve added stomp rockets and drones to our flight arsenal.

So, I was excited to check out and review this cute book.

Review:

The other day, one of my kids asked me what sand dunes are (6yr old is working on 2 vowel words and read the word “dune” but didn’t know what it was). And I remembered a family trip to Kitty Hawk to explore the dunes where flight got it’s start. It’s always awesome to think of how many times people had to try before flight was actually achieved. This book does a great job of capturing that optimism and try try again mentality of someone who is truly passionate about what they want to accomplish.

She even enlists some help in her flight attempts. This really is a fun, and beautifully illustrated book about flight, friendship, and perseverance. Showing that if you just try again, eventually you’ll succeed.

This 15 page book was created for 5 to 10 year olds, but my 2yr old loves the pictures, even if he doesn’t understand the concept of perseverance.

And if you think about it. With over 600,000 pilots around the world, it’s amazing what just trying again and again can accomplish!

About the Authors:

Katie Jaffe: With a passion for children’s causes, Katie has committed herself to several charities, helping children around the world.  As Creative Director and Design Consultant of Aviation for Spectre Air Capital,  Katie has aided in the design of several high profile aircraft.  Currently, she is leading the marketing and design effort of an overseas airline.  She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband–who is a pilot– and their three children who like to fly. 

Jennifer Lawson: Lifelong educator and advocate of the Childrens’ Literacy Program.  Jennifer seeks to bring knowledge to students through creative curriculum and technology on a global level.  As Owner and President of Decision Tree Technologies, she is currently endeavoring to teach using technologically advanced solutions that excite today’s students. She lives in Austin, Texas with her family.

Author Q&A:

  1. Where did you grow up /live now? I grew up in El Paso, Texas and moved to Austin to attend UT.  I currently live in Austin with my husband and three children.
  2. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? I have always wanted to be a writer. 
  3. Do you have kids and/or pets? Yes, I have 3 children and 2 dogs  
  4. What first inspired you to write?  Since I was very young, I have always loved to write. I have also had a passion for children’s causes from a very young age, and writing this book was a great way to give back to children’s education with our proceeds benefiting UNICEF and Buzz Aldrin Ventures.
  5. What inspired your story? Our story was inspired by my husband Jordan who has had a love of flight since he was a child.  Our family is in the aviation industry and our 3 children have also developed a love for flying. We are constantly teaching them the basics of flight in our day to day life, and this book was the perfect way to do so for all kids that may be interested in flying.

More Information:

What your own copy of this cute book? You can purchase it at:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Google Books

Want to connect with the authors? You can find out more about them at their:

Website:

Facebook:

I received a copy of this book free for purposes of my review. All opinions are my own.

Starting Again

We all hate starting over – at least I do, so I assume everyone else does. Even my kids hate starting again. Because usually we’re starting over because we got something wrong. And if there’s anything worse that starting over, it’s admitting that I’ve gotten something wrong.

I often have to remind myself of my favorite teaching phrase for my kids. “If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not learning”. My daughter gets frustrated because she has to re-start a division problem that she just got all wrong. My middle child really doesn’t want to try to read that word for the 5th time. And my toddler simply does not want to attempt putting that there one more time.

But I’m the same. I would honestly prefer that my banana creme pie didn’t turn out as soup the first time. I figured out why, it’s some chemical breakdown of the corn starch if you cook it too much. But it turned out right the second time. I just had to try again.

I’ve watched my kids refuse to try something because they were afraid of failure. I’ve failed to try things because I’m afraid of failure. And I hate starting over.

But, like I tell my kids, starting over is how we learn. If I’m getting it all right all the time then I’m not growing, and I’m not learning, and I’m not getting any better at anything. I’m just doing what I already know.

Truth be told, most great successes, have a string of failures before them. Most of the time, before someone succeeds at something they have to start over again and again. Thomas Edison is famous for saying “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work”. He started over so many times, and eventually succeeded.

One thing I’ve been working to teach my kids is to not be afraid of starting over. Go, try, make the mistake, take what you’ve learned, try again. Each time you do this you’ve learned something and you’ve increased your chances of getting it right the next time.

Of course, this means that I have to be an example and try new things, and try new things again.

So far this year, I’ve learned how to NOT make a banana creme pie and I’ve learned how to make a banana creme pie. Now if I could just figure out a good sausage gravy and biscuits…

What’s something you’ve had to start again this year?

This #BloggersTalkingAbout series features amazing bloggers writing from the heart. Continue reading more by following these links. Starting Over by Joanne | Starting Again by Jenny | When It’s Time To Start Again by Traci | Making Mistakes by Karen | Starting Over by Alicia | Crafty Me by Karen | The Delicate Art Of Starting Again by Nikki | Starting Over by Brandy | Starting Over by Wendy | If you’re a mom/female blogger, join us in our group, Bodacious Bloggers