Fall Off, Get Back On, Keep Going

Shortlisted for the Sunday Times Children's Sports Book of the Year, 2022

'Falling off' is all part of life. The trick is to know how to dust yourself off, get back on, learn from your mistakes - and keep going!

Clare Balding, TV presenter, sportswoman and bestselling author has had some spectacular falls in her life - from not fitting in at school and falling in with the wrong crowd, to last-minute hiccups and mistakes on live TV - so she knows what it takes to embrace your mistakes and move on from them!

With personal stories from Clare herself and from the lives of the people she most admires, children will discover how to develop courage in the face of tough situations. Find out how Charlotte Raubenheimer of South Africa completed a triathlon while in lockdown at home during the coronavirus pandemic. Marvel at the amazing story of US surfer Bethany Hamilton, who got back in the water just one month after she lost her arm in a shark attack, going on to win her first US national surfing competition two years later. Plus many more stories including that of Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, US soccer superstar Megan Rapinoe, Dutch inventor Boyan Slat and Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg.

With fun, quirky illustrations from Jess Holm, the 10 chapters of Fall Off, Get Back On, Keep Going explore 10 character-traits - RESILIENCE, PATIENCE, CONFIDENCE, COURAGE, FLEXIBILITY, CREATIVITY, SPEAKING OUT, MOTIVATION, KINDNESS and KEEPING GOING - that can help children to learn to embrace their mistakes, own them, and move on from them.

Clare Balding (Author)

Winner of the BAFTA Special Award and RTS Presenter of the Year Award for her expert coverage of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Clare Balding is one of Britain's leading broadcasters. Since joining the BBC as a trainee sports reporter in 1994, she has covered a range of major live events for the BBC, Channel 4 and BT Sport. Clare has hosted her own interview show, presented factual documentaries and tramped the country for the walking programme Ramblings since 1999. She has twice been named RTS Sports Presenter of the Year, and won a host of other awards for broadcasting and writing.

A bestselling author, Clare's first book, My Animals and Other Family was published by Penguin in 2012. Based on her childhood growing up in an unusual household, it was published to critical acclaim and went on to win biography of the year at the National Book Awards. Her second book, 'Walking Home' was published in 2014.

Clare has released four children's books based on the relationship between humans and animals. The latest one, The Racehorse Who Learned to Dance which was published in 2019.

Clare lives in London with her wife, Alice, their disobedient dog, Archie and a beautiful cat called Button, whom Archie tolerates with relatively good grace.

Jessica Holm (Illustrator)

Artist and broadcaster Jessica Holm has a family background in theatre and television but began her career as a zoologist studying animal behaviour. An association with the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol took her into radio and television as a wildlife broadcaster, a career which has taken her all over the world from rain forests to ice caps; wilderness to the urban jungle. She eventually married her broadcasting career with her passion for dogs and has commentated for television coverage of Crufts Dog Show for many years. She's also teamed up with Clare Balding as a regular guest on DogCast.

Clare Balding, TV presenter, sportswoman and bestselling author spent her childhood falling off and getting back in the saddle. In her first non-fiction book for children, she shares her warm, funny and reassuring personal insights into what it means to make mistakes and be unafraid of failure. Containing anecdotes from her own life and from the lives of the people she most admires, Clare's book will empower children with the confidence to own their mistakes, face up to failure, keep going - and emerge stronger and happier.

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