I'm Gonna Push Through!

by Jasmyn Wright, Shannon Wright (Illustrator)

Overview

Based on the Push Through movement that inspires kids worldwide, this is an empowering, energetic, and all-inclusive picture book that celebrates resilience in the face of adversity.

Hold your head high. No matter what stands in the way of your dreams, remember this: YOU can push through anything!
If someone tells you it’s too hard, don’t you ever listen. You tell them,
“I’m gonna push through!”

Inspired by a mantra written for her third-grade students, Jasmyn Wright’s uplifting call to “push through” is an invitation to young readers to announce their own power and to recognize and reaffirm that of others, regardless of setbacks. Her empowering words not only lift children up, but show them how to lift themselves up and seize their potential.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534439658
Publisher:	Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	02/18/2020
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	1,113,497
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 10.30(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD330L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jasmyn Wright is the founder of the Push Through Organization and a former elementary school teacher. She began her teaching career at a Title 1 school in Memphis, Tennessee, as a member of Teach for America. More recently, she taught at a charter school in Wilmington, Delaware, and was chosen to be a Teachers for Global Classrooms Fellow. Visit the Push Through Organization at WePushThrough.org.

Shannon Wright is an illustrator and cartoonist living in Richmond, Virginia. Her work has been published by The New York Times, Time magazine, Mother Jones, and Google. She is also the illustrator of My Mommy Medicine by Edwidge Danticat. During the summer, Shannon coteaches a comics course at Virginia Commonwealth University. Visit her at Shannon-Wright.com.

Editorial Reviews

10/21/2019

Jasmyn Wright, educator and founder of the Push Through Organization, encourages readers to explore their potential, stretching themselves beyond what may seem like impossibilities. “If someone tells you it’s too hard, don’t you ever listen. You tell them, I’m gonna push through!” The latter refrain, an empowering mantra the author developed for her third grade students, punctuates the text, which is more rallying cry than narrative (“What if it’s too hard? I’m gonna push through!”). Jasmyn highlights people who have persevered (“Barack Obama... He pushed through!”), and an index offers a short biography of each. Wright’s illustrations aptly relay the range of emotions felt in vulnerable situations, representing an inclusive array of figures flexing their stamina across obstacles such as math problems, sports, and making new friends. An emboldening read for managing self-efficacy. Ages 4–8. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

2019-09-29
A picture-book encapsulation of the author's Push Through education movement.

An extensive author's note explains that Wright came up with the "words and hand movements of the original Push Through mantra" as a teacher endeavoring to explain what "resilient" means. She says she "wanted [her students] to know that their past doesn't define them, their present doesn't have to hinder them, and their future is waiting on them." While readers may find strength in this affirmation, they may also note it seems wholly reliant on individual perseverance rather than systemic change to dismantle oppression. The primary narrative opens with the statement "YOU can push through anything!" while illustrator Wright depicts a young brown-skinned child in profile, hair in beaded braids, and looking determined. The next spread shows the same child with hands over ears against discouraging comments and then smiling and looking out at readers, hands extended to say, "I'm gonna push through!" Ensuing pages show children of different races, genders, and abilities all repeating the "push through" mantra in the face of adversity. Also depicted are diverse famous people (bios in the backmatter) who've "pushed through" to meet success, including President Barack Obama, activist LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, and physicist Stephen Hawking.

It's encouraging—but not revolutionary in its call for individual grit rather than collective change. (Picture book. 5-9)

Kirkus Reviews