The Book of

Mistakes
Written and illustrated by
Corinna Luyken
Published by Dial Books

Angela Nash
Read 3311
First Grade
 Summary
The Book of Mistakes starts out with an artist making a mistake while drawing a
picture of a girl. She makes one eye larger than the other. Instead of erasing the
mistake, the artist incorporates other elements into the picture to make it better. As
the story continues, other mistakes are made and are also creatively incorporated
into a growing picture. With each page, the picture gets more detailed as the artist
continues to build on the mistakes she has made. The result is a beautiful picture of
the girl skating toward a busy tree with a bouquet of yellow balloons. Once the
picture is complete, readers watch the scene of the girl and the tree get smaller and
smaller, until it becomes a small blot of ink on the hat of the girl being drawn in the
beginning of the story.

Remembering
Question
What was the artists first
mistake in the story?
TEKS
§110.3.4 (B) ask relevant
questions, seek clarification, and
locate facts and details about
stories and other texts
Activity
Students will be given one
minute to turn to their partner
to discuss the answer. When
finished, the teacher will turn
to the beginning of the book to
reveal the answer to the class.
 Understanding Activity

Question
What is a mistake? What
happened each time the artist
made a mistake?
TEKS The teacher will help students
create a definition for mistakes
§110.3.3 (B) use illustrations and texts the using the text. Students will then
student is able to read or hear to learn or clarify
draw an example of a mistake from
word meanings
§110.3.8 (B) describe the main character(s) and the story and write about how the
the reason(s) for their actions artist made it work.
§110.3.6 (G) make inferences and use evidence to
support understanding
 Activity
Applying
Question
Can you recall a mistake you
have made?

TEKS Students will write down mistakes they

§110.3.6 (E) make connections to personal
experiences, ideas in other texts, and
society
§117.105.2 (B) place components in orderly
arrangements to create designs
have made on separate colored sticky
notes. They will work together and use the
sticky notes to create a collage. The
teacher will choose a few of the sticky
notes for class discussions about possible
solutions.
 Activity
Analyzing
Question
How is the story similar and
different to other stories about
making mistakes?

TEKS Students will create a Venn diagram

§110.3.13 (D) demonstrate understanding of
with the teacher’s assistance. They will
information gathered with adult assistance analyze the story by comparing and
contrasting two similar books: The Book
§110.3.13 (E) use an appropriate mode of delivery, of Mistakes and Beautiful Oops.
whether written, oral, or multimodal, to present
results
 Evaluating Activity

Question
Could this story happen in real
life? What message does it send
to readers?
TEKS With the teacher’s assistance,
students will create a Flipgrid video
§110.3.6 (E) make connections to personal justifying whether or not this story
experiences, ideas in other texts, and society
§110.3.6 (F) make inferences and use evidence to
could have happened in real life, as
support understanding well as how they think it can help
§110.3.6 (G) evaluate details to determine what is students in their own lives.
most important with adult assistance
 Activity
Creating
Question
How could you change a
drawing if you accidently
dropped ink on it?
The teacher will cover desks or
TEKS tables with butcher paper. Students
§110.3.7 (E) interact with sources in meaningful will help create drops and smudges
ways such as illustrating or writing of paint. Once the paint dries,
students will use the “mistakes” to
§117.105.2 (A) invent images that combine a
variety of lines, shapes, colors, textures, and
create their own art.
forms
 Supplementary Links
● The Book of Mistakes read aloud:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA2bW0IqFyE

● Beautiful Oops! read aloud:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fZjMYdQjGM

● Corinna Luyken website:

http://www.corinnaluyken.com/Asset.asp?AssetID=68384&AKey=HJXCH5T2

● Interview with author/illustrator:

http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/?p=4317
 References
Corinna Luyken. (n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2018, from
http://www.corinnaluyken.com/Asset.asp?AssetID=68384&AKey=HJXCH5T2

H., Va, J., & Saltzberg, B. (2017, July 31). Beautiful Oops Book and Drawing Activity. Retrieved October
25, 2018, from https://artfulparent.com/beautiful-oops-book-and-drawing-activity/

Luyken, C. (2017). The book of mistakes. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers.

Reed, J. (2017, May 14). Reederama. Retrieved October 26, 2018, from
http://reederama.blogspot.com/2017/05/learning-that-mistake-can-be-good-thing.html

Torres, J. (2018, August 24). Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. Retrieved October 27, 2018, from
https://tea.texas.gov/curriculum/teks/