I’m Gonna Push Through!

Have you felt like you couldn’t, wouldn’t, shouldn’t attempt some­thing you real­ly want to do? Maybe you’ve done a good job of con­vinc­ing your­self you’re not up to mak­ing your goal.

This is the book for you, your class­room, your book club, your dance troupe, your fam­i­ly … lit­er­al­ly every­one who needs pos­i­tive encouragement.

As the author and edu­ca­tor Jas­myn Wright shares, “I’ve taught in low-income and under­priv­i­leged com­mu­ni­ties, so I knew that my stu­dents need­ed more than the bare min­i­mum to excel.” She “plas­tered the ques­tion,” “What Will You Do to Make a Dif­fer­ence in the World?” on her third-grade class­room wall. “Under­neath were pic­tures of hero­ic African Amer­i­cans who’ve over­come adver­si­ty and left their imprint on the world. I want­ed the stu­dents to know that there are peo­ple like them — who grew up and expe­ri­enced the same hard­ships, and who look like them — who have also over­come adversity.”

Wright estab­lish­es a mantra in her class­room: “Push Through,” which becomes her stu­dents’ refrain, a video, a social media wild­fire, a non-prof­it orga­ni­za­tion, and, now, a well-writ­ten book that will make a ter­rif­ic class­room focus of discussion.

“What if it’s too hard?
I’m gonna push through!
What if it’s too tough?
I’m gonna push through!”

Shan­non Wright, the illus­tra­tor, includes the moti­va­tion­al por­traits of famous peo­ple who have pushed through. The back mat­ter pro­vides their biogra­phies to share with your listeners.

Wright’s illus­tra­tions add to the con­tent, employ­ing friend­ly, bright­ly-col­ored depic­tions of ways kids can push through.

Jas­myn Wright’s three-page expla­na­tion of how her pro­gram came to be will inspire your own efforts. We can ALL push through!

“Philly Teacher Tells Stu­dent to ‘Push Through,’ Inspires Glob­al Mantra and Gap Com­mer­cial,” Sofiya Ballin, The Philadel­phia Inquir­er, 8 August 2017.

High­ly rec­om­mend­ed and nec­es­sary.

I’m Gonna Push Through!
writ­ten by Jas­myn Wright, M.Ed.
illus­trat­ed by Shan­non Wright
Atheneum / Simon & Schus­ter, 2019
ISBN 978−1−5344−3965−8