Fall Off, Get Back On, Keep Going

'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 being bullied 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.

About the Author

Clare Balding OBE is an award-winning broadcaster and writer. Her memoir My Animals and Other Family won the National Book Awards Biography of the Year Award and was a Number 1 bestseller. She followed it with the highly acclaimed Walking Home: My Family and Other Rambles. She has also written three bestselling novels for children and The Girl Who Thought She Was a Dog for World Book Day.

Clare has presented sport and factual documentaries on TV and radio for over 25 years, working on six Olympic Games as well as every Paralympics since 2000. She has presented Ramblings on BBC Radio 4 for 20 years. Clare is a strong advocate for the increased promotion of women's sport. She lives in London with her wife Alice and their two cats.

About the 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.