Be Your Own Hero: Book Give-away!!!

Kids love super heroes!  As school counselors and teachers we have incorporated these characters into our curriculum materials and created classroom themes featuring them.  It is fun for our students to pretend they are those incredible beings with super powers who fly through the air and save the day.  Or the world.  However, as much as we may all enjoy the super hero theme, our students often  fail to see how they can be heroes as ordinary people in every day life.  They begin to believe unless you are mega-rich, a demi-god, altered by science, or from another galaxy you can't be a hero.  They fail to see how small acts of kindness, standing up for others, and believing in yourself are the "super powers" of real-life heroes.

Practicing school counselor and author Lisa King has created a great little book called, Be Your Own Hero.  With beautiful illustrations by Colleen Madden showing diverse student populations, this story helps students think beyond the "super" and find the hero inside themselves.

In her book, Be Your Own Hero, Lisa tells the story of a girl named Quinn and her very cool teacher Mr. Finley.  Quinn is excited about the upcoming "Hero Week," but uncertain about who she will dress up as on Friday.  During "Hero Week," the students see Mr. Finley, or an adult at school, dressed as a hero and sharing important truths about what it means to be a hero.  They meet famous characters and ordinary people who learned the importance of believing in themselves, doing the right thing, and persevering in the face of failure.  The week culminates with Quinn discovering what it means to really be a hero and finding that hero in herself.  Reflection questions at the end of the story help focus the discussion on what it means to be a hero.

Two FREE Books
Thank you to the National Center for Youth Issues for donating 2 copies of Be Your Own Hero for this give-away!  Leave a comment in the section below this post, on the Exploring School Counseling Facebook page, or the School Counselor Store Facebook page.  The more places you make comments, the more chances you have to win.  Two winners will be selected at random and announced on Thursday, February 20 at 11:00 pm EST.  Check back here or the Facebook pages for winners.

Good Luck!!!