The Book of Mistakes

What a stunner this is! The Book of Mistakes, written and illustrated by newcomer Corrina Luyken, is a quiet masterpiece illuminating the inherent beauty that underlies every misstep we make. Even months after first reading this book, I still cannot quite believe this is Lyuken's debut. She is, without a doubt, one to watch. And this book is, without a doubt, a favorite of 2017.In The Book Of Mistakes, the reader follows Luyken on a creative journey- one that exquisitely depicts how "mistakes" actually become an integral component of her illustrative process. Luyken's artistry is meant to be pored over and studied, with new, quirky details to be discovered each time the book is picked up for a reread. Though there are numerous books that touch upon opportunities arising from perceived errors, this one is as powerful as it is unassuming.So many kids are perfectionists, beginning a project again and again because they can't get it just right. So how can we, the "grown ups" help to nurture their creativity and limit their insecurity? Use The Book of Mistakes -- and perhaps even pair it with A Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg -- to show little ones that magnificence can be found in mistakes, even our biggest ones. An "oh no" can become an "oh wow!" with just a bit of endurance and a whole lot of heart and imagination. Kids will be amazed at the manner in which Luyken's smudges and spills become extraordinarily special, and for this reason, it gets two hearty trunks up. This is one we will read again and again in our house... and I have no doubt The Book of Mistakes will be one my boys carry with them throughout their lives.

At first, I thought “The Book of Mistakes” was a biography of my life because I’ve made my fair share of mistakes. Whopper mistakes!Example: At a robust planning session years ago in Colorado Springs, the idea team had brainstormed over 100 workshop titles and presenters for a regional conference. Scribbled flipchart pages lined the walls of our meeting room—so we called it a day and went out for dinner.The next morning—gulp! Our flipchart notes were missing-in-action. Bare wells greeted our shocked team. I had failed to delegate the note-taking chore. Those were our only notes.But amazingly, that well-managed hotel staff sprang into action—and an hour later, the general manager burst into our meeting room with a dozen flipchart pages. “I found them in the dumpster,” he shouted!“But the flipchart pages are hardly even wrinkled,” a team member questioned.“I know,” the GM smiled, “we just ironed them.”LOL! Thus one of my favorite management axioms was birthed that morning: “It’s not if you make mistakes (you will)…it’s how you recover from your mistakes that differentiate leaders from losers.”So when “The Book of Mistakes”, by first-time author/illustrator Corinna Luyken, landed on “The Wall Street Journal” business book bestseller list last month, I was intrigued and immediately ordered the book.It’s not what you’d expect—it’s better. This gorgeously-illustrated coffee table-perfect children’s book is big on white space, and short on pages (just 56). And this caution—display it on the coffee table in your reception area and someone will “borrow” it within an hour. (Better buy two!)I’m guessing millennial team members in the coolest companies in North America are using “The Book of Mistakes” in team-building exercises, at professional development days, and perhaps in the boardroom—as department heads and CEOs are inspiring the crew with the power and the efficacy of mistake-making.My gut: our organizational cultures are way too timid about the risky business of mistake-making. But the business literature preaches the opposite:Johnson & Johnson’s Robert Wood "General" Johnson II proclaimed, “If I wasn’t making mistakes, I wasn’t making decisions.” Tom Peters highlights another mistake-tolerant company that fired a cannon to celebrate (not condemn) whopper mistakes. : In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-Run Companies.In the book, What Were They Thinking?: Unconventional Wisdom About Management, Jeffrey Pfeffer champions IDEO’s belief that “failing early and failing often is better than failing once, failing at the end, and failing big.”And Jim Collins reminded us about “First Bullets, Then Cannonballs.” He says that discipline and creativity will push you to test, test, test—with low risk bullets, then re-calibrate, fire another low risk bullet, more re-calibration—then when the empirical side of creativity has honed in on the target—let the cannonball rip! Collins has six bullet points (sorry) on “The Dangerous Lure of Uncalibrated Cannonballs.” Brilliant. : Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck--Why Some Thrive Despite Them All.And speaking of little bets, giving freedom for mistake-making is a 180 plunge from what the profs taught us. Peter Sims quotes Sir Ken Robinson, “We are educating people out of their creativity.” Most management approaches are all about reducing errors and risk—not giving license to having a good whack at a half-baked idea. “Goodness, this is God’s money we’re wasting!” :Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries.This week I asked two-thirds of our triplet grandchildren (9th grade, 15-years-old) about their thoughts on mistake-making (the good, the bad, and the ugly!). Their thoughts (according to birth-order, “as it should be,” says Emelia):EMELIA: “This is funny! I was walking down the paper towel aisle at our grocery store, but I didn’t see a big puddle of water. Bang! I slipped and fell! Imagine—a puddle of water in the paper towel aisle! I don’t know how the store recovered from that mistake, but I recovered by just laughing about it. How ironic!”ANDERSON: “Grandpa John, I remember the story from “Thinkpak: A Brainstorming Card Deck” (which you reviewed). The Walkman radio and cassette player started out as a mistake. Sony engineers tried to create a small, portable stereo tape recorder. It’s only when Masura Ibuka, honorary chairman of Sony, combined a new concept with the device—headphones—and dropped the recording idea, that the Walkman became Sony’s bestselling electronic product of all time! And chocolate chip cookies, popsicles, raisins and ice cream cones were all invented by mistake. Honest! Google it, Grandpa!”So…order “The Book of Mistakes” and you’ll be mega-phoning to your team that you want to celebrate both mistakes and great recoveries from mistakes. Unleash the creativity and watch for dumpster divers near you as you inspire your people and your family members to take thoughtful risks.

Perfect for anyone who is a perfectionist and has a hard time with when things turn out they way they picture it in their head. Teaches imagination and flexible thinking. My kids and I love it. We recommend to anyone whose kids get frustrated when things don’t come out “right.”

I rarely write reviews. I've only started making the effort since becoming a Children's Librarian in the last few months. However, I absolutely adore this book. There's so much to say about why I love this story but I would hate to ruin the impact of its message.I will say this. I read it as one among a stack of many new arrivals to our collection one morning. Normally, I breeze through picture books. We're mostly concerned as librarians in ensuring content meets expectations. There's no real time in our work day to truly absorb an author's intent. This book, though? It is so beautiful and made me so joyful as a human being capable of flaws and success. I went home that night and bought more than I'd like to admit. It is now my go-to gift for the creative and deserving women in my life that need that extra reminder once in awhile that they are capable of greatness no matter what path they're on.

This book had been great in engaging my daughter who wrestles with perfectionism see how mistakes don’t need to be covered up or hidden but can be embraced to build something beautiful. I would recommend this for any child especially one who wrestles with perfectionism.