SuitabookYou Are Awesome
Matthew Syed
- Reading
- Read a chapter at a time and pause to connect its idea with a real, manageable challenge. Ask the child to choose one small experiment, then discuss what they noticed rather than whether they succeeded.
- Themes
- Growth through practice: The book presents skills as developable through hard work, practice, determination and self-belief, using examples of people who persisted. It strongly encourages readers to treat ability as changeable rather than fixed.
- Mistakes and failure: The book presents mistakes as human and failure as something from which people can learn, including stories of notable people who were rejected or did not give up. Failure is framed as potentially informative rather than proof that someone cannot improve.
- Achievement and worth: The book addresses achievement and worth; the detail of how it is developed remains unclear. The message is empowering about effort but may imply that striving towards exceptional achievement is especially desirable.
- Worth knowing
- Notice whether the book’s confidence-building message leaves room for rest, ordinary ability and interests that do not lead to exceptional achievement. Its positive tone may be useful, but not every reader will share its definition of greatness.