Read this story
On the morning of the class read-aloud, Nia searched everywhere for her brave.
She checked beneath her pillow. She looked behind the cereal box. She even peeked inside her left sneaker, although that was mostly lint and one very surprised ladybug.
“Brave is loud,” Nia told Grandma. “It stomps into a room and says, ‘I am not scared!’”
Grandma smiled and slipped a smooth golden button into Nia’s pocket. “Sometimes,” she said, “brave is a whisper that says, ‘I can try while I’m scared.’”
At school, Nia’s name was called. Her knees wiggled. Her voice hid somewhere behind her heartbeat. She put one hand in her pocket and held the little button.
“I can try,” she whispered.
Nia walked to the front. Her first sentence came out tiny. The second stood a little taller. By the final page, her words had filled the whole room.
Everyone clapped, but Nia knew the clapping was not the brave part. The brave part was the small step she took before anyone clapped at all.
That afternoon, Nia returned the button. Grandma shook her head. “Keep it.”
Nia grinned. “I don’t need it anymore.” She tapped her chest, then tucked the button back into her pocket anyway, just in case her brave needed a reminder.
Talk together: What is one small, brave thing you can try, even if you still feel nervous?