Journey loves playing the piano, but she is scared to play in front of others. When she is asked to accompany the children’s choir at a talent show, she is overwhelmed with doubt and fear. Will Journey find the courage to play before the crowd?
This story is about:
Journey loves writing stories, caring for her house plants, and playing joyful little songs on her keyboard.
Journey deals with self-doubt and becomes nervous when asked to do something she's never done before.
Negative self-talk doesn't help Journey when she tries to do a challenging task. Will a growth mindset help her?
Krishana Johnson-James is a teacher and author dedicated to nurturing young minds. With over twenty years of experience in the classroom, she has seen firsthand the incredible power of teaching growth mindset and how it can transform children's confidence and resilience. Krishana wrote Planting a Song to encourage young readers to embrace challenges and celebrate their unique journeys. She is also the author of the book, There’s No One Just Like Me!
When she is not teaching or writing, this Barbadian Canadian educator enjoys reading, listening to music, caring for her plants, and spending time with family and friends. Krishana is committed to helping children believe in themselves and their abilities. Through her stories, Krishana hopes to inspire the next generation to dream big and reach for the stars!
This picture book is filled with beautiful illustrations by Prabir Sarkar. It includes a special rhyme that children can learn and also use in their daily life.
This story can help those who have felt nervous about doing something really hard. It encourages children to learn and grow from doing challenging things.
Themes include building self-confidence, positive self-talk, and developing a growth mindset. Love plants and music? You'll love this book!
Children the world over deserve to see themselves in the books they read. I hope this story encourages readers to use positive self-talk and build self-confidence.
What inspired me to write and publish this book? My own childhood experience is the foundation of this story. Stay tuned for more details about it in a future blog post!
This book would make a wonderful gift for young readers, teachers, classrooms, librarians, non-profit organizations, plant parents, and musicians, too!
Highly Recommended!
“Planting a Song is a wonderful new book about believing in yourself by Krishana Johnson-James. The main character, Journey, is a young girl who loves to play the piano, but has trouble performing in front of others. I relate to the internal struggle that Journey faces in this story, because I too experienced self-doubt as a young pianist. As a child, a book like this would have helped me understand that others felt the same way I did, to learn that mistakes are okay, to know that it's okay to seek support from others, and that positive self-talk helps improve self-confidence. As an adult, this book serves as a great reminder of simple ways to build self-confidence. And as a mother of two girls (one of whom also plays the piano), I'm looking forward to reading this book with them and discussing how the lessons learned can be applied to other areas of their lives too. I highly recommend it!”
- Sonia Dong, Creator of the Henkaa Legacy Project, Entrepreneur, Mom
Great Story for Children and Adults to Read!
"Planting a Song, by Author Krishana Johnson-James @plantingourstories, is a sweet and encouraging story that really resonated with me. This book deals with an issue that many people face, which is overcoming fear. We all possess certain talents, skills, and abilities, but we may hide our capabilities from the world out of fear. This story teaches us that it’s okay to be nervous, and you may make mistakes, but you can do it, if you put your mind to it! This is a great story for children and adults to read!"
- Ashley Scott, @authorashley_scott, Author of, The Boy Who Knew How to Believe
Patience, Perseverance, and Persistence
“The story is about Journey’s journey of overcoming fear and self-doubt, in the book, Planting a Song.
“Journey has a hard time processing her performance anxiety every time she was requested to play the piano. She was afraid to make mistakes. Though she repeated her own special rhyme, she was still struggling to overcome her fear.
“With supporters beside her, she was able to amplify the power of her special rhyme. She was confident that she could overcome her fear of public performance.
“The Author has beautifully portrayed the story about Journey. The story is well written about patience, perseverance, persistence, and how Journey was able to build her self-confidence by believing in herself.
“A must-read for young children to motivate and boost self-confidence by Krishana Johnson- James.”
- Parimalasri Docktor, author and illustrator of, Why Mom, Why?
“I liked that Journey loved to go to school because I love school too.
I really liked the poem she said to herself when she was scared, and I learned to not be shy to do something new!” - LV, 5-year-old
"Planting a Song is a realistic fiction book about self-confidence, featuring a girl named Journey. I think that this is a fantastic short story for kids. It can help them learn about overcoming social anxiety and stage fright. I would definitely recommend this book to younger readers!”
- Ariel, Grade 6
"A great book for young children to learn about self-help by looking deep within and to develop those skills at an early stage in life."
- Vincent J. Docktor
"Planting a Song details a talented girl's relatable journey to overcoming self-doubt. When playing piano, despite her definite skill, she's held back by tricky hurdles of low self-confidence. Filled with cute rhymes that help a child unlearn sabotaging thought patterns, I think this story teaches an encouraging lesson about the power of believing in yourself.” - JJ, teenager
“What a beautifully inspiring children’s book! It weaves together so many important themes- the strength of a supportive, loving family, the power of positive self-talk and consistency, and the resilience to rise from setbacks with a growth mindset. A truly uplifting read!”
- Fatmata Jollah NP, @sajs.bookcorner, Author of, My Beautiful Son,
Journey loves playing the piano, but she is scared to play in front of others. When she is asked to join the children’s choir at a talent show, she is overwhelmed with doubt and fear. Will Journey find the courage to play before the crowd? (32 pages | paperback)
PRICE: $15.99 CND
Copyright © 2025 Planting Our Stories - All Rights Reserved.