Bring Ricky’s story of friendship, determination, and never giving up into your home or classroom.
Free download for teachers, parents, counselors, and coaches.
Children’s books often open the door to important conversations, but some of the most meaningful lessons happen after the final page is turned.
The Ricky Stands Tall Parent & Teacher Guide was created to help parents, teachers, counselors, coaches, and caregivers continue the conversations started by Ricky’s story and transform them into lessons children can carry with them for years to come.
Ricky may be the smallest child in the room, on the field, or in the gym, but he learns an important truth: your size does not determine your value, your abilities, or your potential. Through challenges, setbacks, and moments of self-doubt, Ricky discovers that courage, effort, friendship, and determination are what truly make someone stand tall.
For many children, these themes are deeply personal.
Some children feel smaller than their classmates. Others struggle with confidence, worry about fitting in, or wonder whether they measure up to their peers academically, socially, or athletically. Many children experience moments when they feel different, overlooked, or underestimated.
The goal of this guide is to help adults use Ricky’s experiences as a safe and relatable way to discuss these feelings and provide children with tools to navigate them successfully.
Parents often know when their children are struggling with confidence or feeling discouraged, but finding the right words can be difficult.
This guide provides parents with conversation starters and discussion questions that make difficult topics easier to approach, including:
The guide also encourages families to share personal experiences and stories, helping children understand that everyone faces challenges and that growth often comes through adversity.
Educators know that social-emotional learning is every bit as important as academic achievement.
The lessons in Ricky Stands Tall align naturally with many classroom discussions surrounding:
The guide includes classroom discussion prompts, reflection activities, writing exercises, and opportunities for students to connect Ricky’s experiences to their own lives. These activities can be used in elementary classrooms, guidance programs, reading groups, after-school programs, and character education initiatives.
The lessons in Ricky Stands Tall extend well beyond school walls.
The messages are universal because every child, at some point, faces moments when they feel too small, too different, or not good enough.
At its core, Ricky Stands Tall reminds children that greatness is not measured in inches, trophies, or popularity.
It is measured by character.
By effort.
By kindness.
By courage.
By refusing to give up.
When children understand that heart matters more than size, they begin to see themselves differently. They learn that they do not have to be the biggest, fastest, strongest, or loudest person in the room to make a difference.
They simply need to believe in themselves, treat others with kindness, and always strive to be their best.
Those are lessons worth carrying long after the story ends.
The Ricky Stands Tall Parent & Teacher Guide was developed to help educators transform a memorable story into meaningful social-emotional learning opportunities for students.
At a time when schools are placing increased emphasis on student well-being, resilience, empathy, and belonging, Ricky’s journey provides an engaging and relatable way to explore these important life skills in both classroom and small-group settings.
As the smallest child among his peers, Ricky faces challenges that many students know all too well:
The guide uses Ricky’s experiences to encourage students to examine their own thoughts, feelings, and responses while developing practical tools for overcoming obstacles.
The activities and discussion prompts align naturally with the core principles of social-emotional learning.
The guide complements many school and district character education programs by reinforcing values such as:
Respect · Responsibility · Kindness · Courage · Perseverance · Integrity · Inclusion · Sportsmanship · Empathy
The activities are designed to be flexible and easy to incorporate into a variety of educational settings, including:
Teachers can use the guide as a standalone lesson resource or integrate activities into existing literacy, SEL, and character education curricula.
Perhaps most importantly, the guide creates opportunities for conversations that many children want to have but may struggle to begin on their own.
Conversations about confidence. Conversations about feeling different. Conversations about perseverance. Conversations about believing in themselves.
By using literature as a bridge to these discussions, educators can help students understand that challenges do not define them and that character, effort, and heart often matter far more than circumstances.
Greatness is not measured by size. It is measured by courage, kindness, determination, and the willingness to keep going when things get hard.
Those are lessons that extend far beyond the classroom.
The downloadable Parent & Teacher Guide includes discussion questions, classroom activities, reflection exercises, and conversation starters for home and school. It is a ready-to-use companion for read-alouds, small groups, and social-emotional learning lessons.
