Trini’s Big Leap

PreS-Gr 1–Trini is a young girl who is full of confidence. Every day at Bounce and Build, she says, “I can do that!” And she can, without any help at all. Gymnastics is her superpower. Then one day she follows her friends into the Build area and discovers to her surprise that she’s not terrific at building a castle out of blocks. Luckily, her friends have the solution—“We can do it together.” As a team, they make an amazing castle. Trini is still a natural gymnast, but now she says, “You can do that!” as she helps her friends be great too. Together they say, “We can do that” as they build a tall tower. Solid text depicts Trini as relatable and confident but never smug. The spare illustrations clearly show a child’s enthusiasm and gymnastic skill in addition to her dismay at her inability to excel for the first time. An afterword for parents discusses the importance of exposing children to challenging experiences.