Sally Sanders is good at everything she does, or so it seems. Secretly she is afraid that if she can't do something well, or be the best, she will feel like a failure. She is scared that she is not "good enough." As a perfectionist, hitting the wrong note at a piano recital, or not making the soccer team feels like the end of the world!Gradually, through the help of her teachers and mother, Sally learns to have fun and not worry so much about being the best. She realizes that making mistakes is a part of learning, and that doing her best is good enough.

About the Author

In addition to being a school psychologist, Ellen Flanagan Burns is a licensed massage therapist. She is a strong supporter of cognitive-based interventions and believes that bibliotherapy with children is extremely powerful. She has a particular interest in helping children with anxiety-related issues because she has worked with many children suffering from them and has dealt with perfectionism personally and professionally. She lives in Newark, Delaware with her family. Erica Pelton Villnave's involvement in children's literature began at The Maryland Institute College of Art where she studied illustration.

Reviews

Gr 3-5-Sally Sanders exhibits many of the classic symptoms of a perfectionist: she feels embarrassed when she makes minor mistakes, she procrastinates, she has a domineering attitude, and so on. This chapter book follows her from music recital to gym class and school play. Adults around Sally are saccharine and unrealistic, constantly building her up and reassuring her that mistakes are a part of everyday life-to the point of tedium. The story lacks cohesion and reads like a string of examples of perfectionist behavior. The language is dull, the message is heavy-handed, the time line is inconsistent, and the characters are underdeveloped. An introductory note outlines the story and aims to help the perfectionist child. Chapters begin with a full-page illustration, and smaller pictures are interspersed throughout. The bright cartoon watercolors will appeal to younger readers, but as a whole the book's audience is limited.-Laura Butler, Mount Laurel Library, NJ Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.