All the Ways to be Smart: the beautifully illustrated international bestseller that celebrates the talents of every child

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This book was such a lovely way to say that all children are smart at different things but that doesn’t make anyone more or less smart. As well as receiving numerous Australian Book Design Awards for her illustration and cover design, she has won the CBCA Crichton Award for Best New Talent and two Australian Book Industry Awards. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. This is a fantastic book that has no room for judgement: smart refers to anything, and anyone can be smart.

One of the most pivotal messages that children need to hear and illustrated with a brilliant spectrum of colours that leap from the page and right into the heart.I remember feeling so frustrated as a child because I wanted there to be more than one meaning of ‘smart’. This book (“All The Ways To Be Smart”) is about how being “smart” isn’t just about intellectual “smartness” but instead can encompass kindness, being artistic, being a good friend, etc. With sing-song rhymes and bright colors, All the Ways to Be Smart echoes classic children's literature with a modern take.

I have noticed that in year 1, a lot of children begin to get a fixed mindset when it comes to their ability and it would be very beneficial to remind them that smartness isn’t about how well they do on a maths test, it is much more about how they act, how they respond to each other and how they think. Colpoys’s ink, charcoal, and pencil drawings burst with a profusion of neon orange and green, literally highlighting each scene with an incandescence that more than matches the rhyming couplets’ jauntiness. Rather, it’s the value of learning through play which is beautifully illustrated and will captivate children’s imagination throughout the book.To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. The illustrations are beautiful and the writing has a nice rhythm that makes it pleasant and easy to read - even if it is a little dry. In particular, the themes of how being smart in often-overlooked ways struck me; as the parent of a special-needs child, it’s wonderful to find stories that celebrate people who think differently, yet are no less intelligent. While All the Ways to Be Smart would be an amazing addition for preschool and elementary classrooms, especially in this school climate where children worry at younger and younger ages about their performances in reading, writing, and math, the way Bell wrote this book makes it perfect to read one on one with a child you love at home as well. This collaboration between Davina Bell and Alison Colpoys is a celebration of what makes us us, of the strengths that we all have within ourselves – whether we’re dreamers, adventurers, readers or artists … The illustrations are whimsical and fun, with a beautiful colour palette.

Realistic illustrations show children of varying racial presentations joining sentient animals and benign, hairy monsters to confidently explore their world, real and imagined. Being smart is building boats from boxes, painting pirates, wheeling wagons, being mermaids and riding dragons.A lover of words and ideas in many forms, Davina regularly travels the country, speaking to children and adults about books and writing. This beautiful book inventories all the unique, not-so-academic ways a person might be smart throughout their day; from being good at taking risks, to being kind, or knowing how to sit quietly and observe. This lovely read explains that 'Smart' isn't just science and maths skills, it's kindess, creativity and so much more. This paired perfectly with a lesson on Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences, and the 8 different modalities (art, music, word, people, self, math, body, and nature).