- Picture Books
- Ages 4–8
- Fables
What Do You Do With a Chance?
Book 3 of 3 in What Do You Do WithView the full series
Part of the Kobi Yamada universeOpen the collection
A graceful conclusion to the core Yamada/Besom trilogy, focused on bravery, missed opportunities and trying again. Very useful for children who hesitate, fear embarrassment or need encouragement to take small risks.
- Best for4–8
- FormatPicture
- Length36 pp
- Read aloud~7 min
The vibe
What it’s like.
Style
- Lyrical
- Literary
- Conversational
Tone
- Gentle
- Inspirational
- Thought provoking
- Warm
- Adventurous
Themes
Experience meters
What’s it about?
The story.
A child is visited by a chance and does not know what to do with it. The first chance slips away. Later, the child reaches for another chance, falls, feels embarrassed and begins ignoring new opportunities. But chances keep appearing, and eventually the child realises that courage does not mean being fearless all the time; it means being ready at the right moment. Kobi Yamada's metaphor is clear and child-friendly, while Mae Besom's illustrations give each chance a delicate, winged presence that feels magical without needing detailed explanation. This is a particularly strong book for conversations about trying again after embarrassment, missed opportunities, performance anxiety and the fear of failure. It belongs with Idea and Problem, but it has its own emotional use case: helping children say yes to possibility.
Fit check
Right for your child?
Where it lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- Best fit · 4–8
- Read aloud · 4–9
- Independent · 6–9
Prose load
Light
Visual support
Very high
Reluctant-reader friendly
Workable
Read-aloud quality
Strong
Works well for
- Reading aloud
- Bedtime
- Reading together
Nothing in the book is likely to concern most parents. Safe to recommend without preview.
Bedtime suitability
5 / 5 · Bedtime-friendly
Sensitive-child
5 / 5 · Good fit
Graphic intensity
1 / 5 · None
Best for
- Bravery
- Trying new things
- Fear of failure
- Growth mindset
- Gift book
Avoid if
- Wants concrete plot
- Wants laugh out loud funny
- Prefers realistic school stories
Particularly good for children who are…
- Anxiety and worry
- Low self esteem
- Starting school
In the classroom
How it works in school.
Kobi Yamada's inspiring picture books about ideas, problems and courage — a wellbeing and growth-mindset favourite for read-aloud and discussion.
A book children love that happens to support school — never a stand-in for the texts a class is taught with. Reviewed for the classroom · June 2026.
Why it lands
Why they love it.
Why kids love it
The specific weight is the chance flying away — a child meeting an opportunity and not knowing what to do, reaching for the next one and falling, getting embarrassed and starting to ignore the rest. The Yamada/Besom for a child who hesitates because the embarrassment of trying feels worse than the missing-out.
- Adventure and freedom
- Making a difference
- Transformation
Why parents love it
The third Yamada/Besom fable — bravery and missed-opportunity-as-recoverable as the themes, Besom's winged-chance imagery doing the metaphorical work. Useful for the hesitant child and for the performance-anxiety conversation. Strong gift-book object.
- Conversation starter
- Beautiful illustrations
- Educational for adult too
- Quick to read
In the series
What Do You Do With.
3 books · open the series →
About the creators
About the creators.
If you liked this
Three ways out of this book.
If you liked this, try…
Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.
Come into this from…
Easier or preparing reads — perfect lead-ins.
Buy or borrow
Pick up a copy.
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- Waterstones ↗
- Amazon UK ↗
- Hive ↗
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