I was lamenting with a friend the other day that I feel duped by the career education I received as a kid. I clearly remember completing a bubble form in my 9th grade American History class and it came back with the recommendation that I become a farmer. I don't remember a formal career day or any other exploration of what opportunities were available. Perhaps this is what led to my declaring 7 majors during my first 3 semesters of college. In fact, I only settled on psychology because I overheard an upperclassman say that psych majors only led to grad school which was perfect for an aimless drifter like myself! Don't get me wrong, I've had an incredible career as a therapist and that led to my current role as a state director for a child advocacy program. I do wish, however, that I had known about people becoming museum curators, publishers, or librarians.

“What Can I Do When I Grow Up?” from The School of Life series is an illustrated preview of adulthood for a middle grades audience. I appreciated the foundational skills included in addition to an introduction to a variety of careers. Readers will learn about financial planning, different kinds of education options, and be guided through brainstorming prompts related to wants, needs, and personal values. I anticipate this book being added to many school counselors’ shelves and believe it to be a great parenting resource. In fact, I can’t wait to add a physical copy to my collection!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free e-copy in exchange for an honest review. “What Can I Do When I Grow Up” is available for $20 (plus shipping) at www.theschooloflife.com. The School of Life website is worth checking out, not only for book orders but also for downloadable emotional literacy content!

In high school I used to watch a Tv program which asks what will be whne you grow up. I wrote down each week, a new profession that I could see myself in. This book provides so much detail on even specific careers. There are worksheets where you can start with a field and think of careers with specialisations.
There are more important conversations that nee dto happen when you ask children what they want to be when they are grown up. I read that we should instead change the question as how do you wnat to help others when you grow up? This book has that in mind and even tries to match the pleasure that you find whne you wokr - is it helping others, building things and so on. Meaningful work is such a great concpet to introduce to kids. This book is a keeper. Many end up changing their degrees when their prospect line of jon does not match with their values or outcomes are not apparently helping humans.
Its useful to know how knew jobs are created, how to become an entrepreneur, which are never too early to intoduce kids too. To be alert of whats going on around.
To all the future trend hunters and trend setters.

This has a tone that some kids will like and others will eye roll at, it really depends. I liked the honesty about adulthood and how many adults are constantly wondering if they are doing the right job too. I like the concept and the way in which it could be utilized in SPED support for Transition services depending on the student / reading level etc. Great concept, wish there was even more like it.

This is an interesting book to help kids think about what they'd like to do when they grow up. I was hoping for more concrete examples of jobs and checklists, talk about what fields were just now being created, and things of that nature. This is more along the lines of advice, like to think about what sort of things you like in life (if you like things orderly then you might be good at this, if you like helping people then you might be good at this sort of job...) and the roundabout ways that many adults end up in their careers. There's some good stuff to think about, though not a lot of concrete information.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

My son enjoyed — it’s a great concept and really nicely executed. The design is beautifu. Best of luck with it!