25+ Growth Mindset Picture Books

Empower your child embrace mistakes as an opportunity to learn and persevere through challenges with this great big list of growth mindset picture books.

If you’re ready to help your children learn with a growth mindset, this list includes a huge range of titles, including suggestions that work with children in kindergarten and right through the elementary/primary grades.

25+ Growth Mindset Picture Books for Kids

Your Fantastic Elastic Brain: Stretch It, Shape It by Joann Deak A fun and engaging introduction to the anatomy and functions of the brain that will empower young readers to S-T-R-E-T-C-H and grow their fantastic, elastic brain! Available: Amazon | The Book Depository

I Can’t Do That, Yet by Esther Pia Cordova Enna often says’ “I can’t do that!” until one night she learns an important about the power of one simple word – YET! Available: Amazon | The Book Depository

My Strong Mind by Niels Van Hove Kate is a sporty girl who uses her strong mind to tackle her daily challenges with a positive attitude. A great introduction to important growth mindset techniques like goal setting, positive self-talk, accept failure as learning, visualisation of a problem and controlled distraction. Available: Amazon | The Book Depository

What Do You Do With a Problem? by Kobi Yamada What do you do with a problem? Especially one that just won’t go away! This is the story of a persistent problem and a child who isn’t so sure what to make of it. When the child finally musters up the courage to face it, the problem turns out to be something quite different than it first appeared. Available: Amazon | The Book Depository

Mindset Matters by Bryan Smith Amelia is her name and conquering new challenges is her game…until something goes wrong! Setbacks challenge her confidence, and Amelia feels like a failure. But with a little self-reflection and some loving advice from her Dad, Amelia learns she needs a GONNA-GET-IT-DONE mindset. Available: Amazon | The Book Depository

Not Yet by Lisa Cox and Lori Hockema Lorisa faces the challenges of her day demonstrating perseverance, kindness, assertiveness, and self-worth. She also models how to have a positive attitude through imperfections and mistakes. Available: Amazon | The Book Depository

The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes by Mark Pett A powerful story for children who have very high expectations of themselves, Beatrice – the girl who NEVER makes mistakes – inevitably makes a huge mistake in front of everyone! As a result Beatrice learns it’s okay – and sometimes even kind of fun! – to make mistakes. Available: Amazon | The Book Depository

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It’s Okay to Make Mistakes by Todd Parr In his original, creative style, Todd Parr reinforces the importance of taking chances, trying new things, and embracing life, mistakes and all. Available: Amazon | The Book Depository

Anything Is Possible by Guilia Belloni Sheep is a dreamer while her friend, the wolf, is much more practical. One day the sheep tells wolf she wants to build a flying machine! But wolf tells her it’s impossible. Through perseverance and the process of trial and error, the sheep and wolf manage to create a winning design and wolf concedes anything is possible! Available: Amazon | The Book Depository

Making a Splash by Carole E. Reiley Siblings Lina and Johnny decide they would like to learn to swim. While one masters swimming easily, the other struggles, introducing important mindset lessons such as doing hard things can make you smarter, trying new strategies when things get tricky, and why making mistakes can be a good thing. Available: Amazon

The Thing Lou Couldn’t Do by Ashley Spires Lou is playing with her friends when they decide to take the game up a tree. Lou has never climbed a tree before and she is not sure that she actually can! Lou procrastinates, makes excuses, imagines alternatives and denys she cares. Ultimately, Lou faces her fear, and although she fails, the effort empowers her, encouraging a growth mindset. Available: Amazon | The Book Depository

Sometimes you Win and Sometimes You Learn (for Kids) by John C. Maxwell Wendy and Wade love to play their favorite sport, Woggleball, and like most kids, they like to win. After a disappointing loss Wendy and Wade ready to quit but some wise advice from their grandpa teaches them that true victory comes from keeping a positive attitude and learning from mistakes. Available: Amazon | The Book Depository

She’s Got This? by Laurie Hernandez When Zoe sees a gymnast on TV she imagines that gymnastics is just like flying. But when she first goes to class and falls off the balance beam, she discovers that following her dreams is harder and scarier than she thought. Available: Amazon

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The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires A girl decides to make a most magnificent thing but as she tries and fails to  make her ideas a reality she learns valuable lessons about perseverance, and how a fresh perspective can sometime help solve a problem. Available: Amazon | The Book Depository

Flight School by Lita Judge A persevering penguin is determined to fly in this lighthearted adventure. With the soul of an eagle, Penguin is determined to do the impossible and become what he was not meant to be! Available: Amazon | The Book Depository

Izzy Gizmo by Pip Jones Izzy inventions don’t always work! Whenever they break, chaos and mess often occurs. Izzy decides that she has had enough of failure and puts her tool bag away for good. When Izzy finds a crow that has hurt itself and will never fly again, she tries to teach it how to live a fun life without flying, but he is extremely unhappy. Can Izzy invent a solution for her flightless friend? Available: Amazon | The Book Depository

Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae Gerald the giraffe would love to join the Jungle Dance but everyone knows that with those long thin legs giraffes can’t dance…but can they? A beautiful story about finding one’s own music and daring to be different. Available: Amazon | Book Depository

Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beatty Ada Twist’s head is full of questions but when her fact-finding missions and elaborate scientific experiments don’t go as planned, Ada learns the value of thinking her way through problems and continuing to stay curious. Available: Amazon | The Book Depository

Ish by Peter H. Reynolds When Ramon hears criticism of his drawings, he loses confidence in his creations. Through the love of his little sister, Ramon learns that life, and art, doesn’t have to be about getting things 100% right. Available: Amazon | The Book Depository

Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg Could a mistake actually be an opportunity to create something beautiful? It’s OK to make a mistake. In fact, a mistake can be an adventure in creativity or a portal of discovery! Available: Amazon

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Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beatty Rosie is a brilliant inventor of gizmos and gadgets who dreams of becoming a great engineer, until she hears her Uncle laugh at her creation. Will her Great Aunt Rose be able to help Rosie re-discover her engineering spirit to make a lifelong dream come true?! Available: Amazon | Book Depository

The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds The Dot is a wonderfully inspiring story about getting started, honouring effort and overcoming obstacles, even when we lack faith in our ability to achieve the desired result. Available: Amazon | The Book Depository

A Splash of Red by Jen Bryant From childhood Horace Pippin loved to draw and paint but when he returns home injured from World War I, Horace can’t move his arm at all, and cannot make art at all. With plenty of determination and practice, Horace regained the use of his arm until he could once again paint and paint and paint! Available: Amazon | The Book Depository

Salt In His Shoes: Michael Jordan in Pursuit of a Dream by Delores Jordan As a child, Michael Jordan almost gave up on his dream of playing basketball, until his family stepped in to remind him what really goes into the making of a champion — patience, determination, and hard work. Available: Amazon | The Book Depository

Nadia – The Girl Who Couldn’t Sit Still by Karlin Gray Nadia Comaneci received an unprecedented seven perfect scores in gymnastics at the 1976 Olympic Games but her journey from small-town girl to world-class athlete was full of many imperfect moments and a great deal of dedication. Available: Amazon | The Book Depository

Hana Hashimoto: Sixth Violin by Chieri Uegaki Hana has only been playing the violin a few days when she signs up to perform in a talent show. Her brothers are sure this is going to be a disaster. But Hana is inspired by her grandfather and the marvelous ways he can make his violin sing. A lovely story of practice, perseverance and courage. Available: Amazon | The Book Depository

Malala’s Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzi As a child in Pakistan, Malala wished for a magic pencil. She would use it to make everyone happy, to erase the smell of trash from her city and to sleep an extra hour in the morning! As she grew older, Malala saw that there were more important things to wish for, a world that needed fixing. Even if she never found a magic pencil, Malala realised that she could work hard every day to make her wishes come true. Available: Amazon | The Book Depository

Different Like Coco by Elizabeth Matthews A great picture book about the life of Coco Chanel to share with those in upper elementary/primary grades. A poor orphan, Coco rightly believed that she was as good as the wealthier girls of Paris. Tapping into her creativity, she began making clothes and before long a women everywhere craved her sleek, comfortable, and practical designs. Available: Amazon | The Book Depository

For more great social emotional learning through picture books, check out our huge collection of 101 Picture Books That Help Develop Social Skills and our great list of Books About Feelings & Emotions.

For more growth mindset resources, click through to see 10 inspiring growth mindset videos – these 10 TEDTalks are the perfect springboard for learning about mindset.