Luke Reynolds - Even More Fantastic Failures: True Stories of People Who Changed the World by Falling Down First

ALADDIN

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Childrens Publishing Division

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BEYOND WORDS

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This Beyond Words/Aladdin edition September 2020

Text copyright 2020 by Luke Reynolds

Illustrations copyright 2020 by Beyond Words Publishing, Inc.

Cover copyright 2020 by Beyond Words/Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Cover and interior illustrations by M. S. Corley

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

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Managing Editor: Lindsay S. Easterbrooks-Brown

Editor: Emmalisa Sparrow Wood

Copyeditor: Kristin Thiel

Proofreader: Ashley Van Winkle

Cover design: Devon Smith and M. S. Corley

Interior design: Devon Smith

Composition: William H. Brunson Typography Services

Cover design by Devon Smith and M. S. Corley

Cover copyright 2020 by

Beyond Words/Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Cover illustrations copyright 2020 by Beyond Words Publishing, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Reynolds, Luke, author.

Title: Even more fantastic failures : true stories of people who changed the world by falling down first / written by Luke Reynolds.

Description: New York : Aladdin ; Hillsboro, Oregon : Beyond Words, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references. | Audience: Ages 812

Identifiers: LCCN 2020002023 (print) | LCCN 2020002024 (ebook) |

ISBN 9781582707341 (paperback) | ISBN 9781582707334 (hardcover) |

ISBN 9781534464896 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: CelebritiesBiographyJuvenile literature. | Successful peopleBiographyJuvenile literature. | SuccessJuvenile literature. | Failure (Psychology)Juvenile literature.

Classification: LCC CT120 .R475 2020 (print) | LCC CT120 (ebook) |

DDC 920dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020002023

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020002024

FOR FOUR FANTASTIC PEOPLE WITHOUT WHOM THIS BOOK WOULD NOT EXIST:

JENNIFER REYNOLDS

TYLER REYNOLDS

LINDSAY EASTERBROOKS-BROWN

EMMALISA SPARROW WOOD

S uccess.

Yes.

Its the best!

Except well when it isnt. Or when the success you get isnt exactly what you had in mind. Or when youre on the ground, face covered in dirt or shame, staring up ahead at what you wanted slipping slowly (or quickly!) away.

Right now, chances are that you see a lot of success all around you. Teachers in your schools may highlight certain students for good grades or sports ability or other achievements. Your parents or guardians may talk about siblings who have done truly astounding things. Your social media feeds may feature friends and enemies alike who all (all!) are doing some truly amazing things, in some truly amazing places, with some truly amazing peopleand doing most of it much better than you and me.

But wait.

These versions of success are two things, guaranteed: (1) Theyre not the full story. (2) Theyre maybe not even the versions of success you want.

I remember when I was growing up long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away called Windsor, Connecticut, baseball seemed like the only way for me to prove myself as a boy. Many of my friends were really into baseball, loved it, and played it pretty darn well. Enter Luke Reynolds. I would get up to bat, take a breath, and then proceed to strike out.

Over and over again, Id strike out.

I remember standing at the home plate in my tight, tight pants (that itched uncontrollably!) and being terrified that a pitch was going to hit me. I would have much rather written a poem about the death-intent fastball than been standing at the plate waiting for it to come right at me.

But writing a poem about a fastball didnt seem like a viable version of success for me as a young boy. Baseball was what it was all about. Baseball was where triumph was won.

Need to overcome fear?

Baseball was the way to do it!

Need to show leadership?

Baseball again, yeah!

Need to learn the power of community and working together?

Yup. You guessed it. Baseball.

And so, I tried my hands again and again at that epic terrain, hoping to learn and then showcase these successful life skills.

Yet every Saturday, as I waited for fastballs that I believed mocked me ruthlessly en route to the home plate, all I could really think about doing was writing poetry. I would have much rather been up in the tree fort that my dad had built, where I hammered in some stray boards to build myself a little corner desk facing what I thought, at the time, was a stream (it was actually a sewer), writing

Poetry.

But in my boyhood, baseball was cool. Baseball was where one proved oneself.

Poetry was not.

What I needed to learn, standing there on that baseball field, was that sometimes, our versions of success need to change in order for us to embrace the experiences we actually want to pursue.

In the book youre now holding, youll see this theme emerge, with amazing people like Alan Naiman, Mindy Kaling, and Grace Hopper, who all had to reject societys version of success for them in order to break into their own definition of what it means to succeed, in their own way, and using their own unique set of skills and abilities.

But getting honest with ourselves about what we really believe we need to pursue is no guarantee that triumph is going to arrive because of it.

I eventually stopped playing baseball (or should I say, trying to play baseball) and started writing more and more poetry. But that didnt mean that the New Yorker or any other revered magazine was about to come knocking at my door saying something like

Luke!

We have heard the oft-told tales of your heretofore mentioned struggles with the athletically inscribed activity known as baseball and how you finally chose to relinquish your pursuits in the heretofore mentioned arena and instead pursue the subsequent desire to write poetry. Ah, what a lovely and courageous choice! We would now like to publish any poems that you craft, but may we humbly suggest that you write your first poem to be published by us about a death-intent fastball that mocks you en route to the plate?