Description "Raise your hand if you know the answer," "Come up if you can do it" - class time that begins this way makes children who aren't sure of themselves shrink with worry. There's a new first grader. At home, she talks freely, and at kindergarten she was good at speaking up too, but in front of unfamiliar classmates and an unfamiliar teacher, she shyly holds back. On top of that, the more rigid atmosphere of the classroom compared to home or kindergarten makes her lose confidence, so she can't even speak up about things she actually knows. This book helps first graders who want to answer well but hesitate to raise their hands, worried they might get it wrong or that classmates will laugh at a wrong answer. It helps them realize that the classroom is a place where it's okay to be wrong, a place where you find the right answer through making mistakes along the way - so they can enjoy school life with a happy heart. It teaches children that even from a wrong answer, they can learn how to work their way toward the correct one. While the setting of this story is an elementary school classroom, the message applies just as much to middle and high school classrooms. These days, both adults and children tend to focus only on getting the right answer, rather than on the process of getting there. But to truly make knowledge your own, you need to identify and correct the errors in wrong answers along the way, understanding the concepts and principles involved in that process. This book teaches children that even a wrong answer can lead you toward learning how to find the right one. "I'm not afraid of being wrong anymore - I'm going to bravely raise my hand too." We received a letter from a parent: "After listening to this book read aloud, my child said, 'I'm not afraid of being wrong. I'm going to bravely raise my hand too.' Seeing my child's newfound confidence made me so happy." Isn't this a lesson that applies not just in the classroom, but in the adult world as well? Even if you might be wrong, don't worry - speak your mind. - Amazon Japan, Kaizu Mom -