Ohno's Terrible, Horrible Mistake

Everybody makes mistakes. But what happens when you're afraid to tell the truth about one?

In Ohno's Terrible, Horrible Mistake, Ohno the Opossum is excited to help prepare for the Yonder Creek Friendship Picnic. When Mrs. Rabbit trusts him to carry her treasured, hand-painted picnic sign, Ohno wants to do the job perfectly.

Then-TRIP! CRACK!

Ohno accidentally breaks the sign.

Breaking it was an accident. What Ohno does next is a choice.

Worried that Mrs. Rabbit will be upset, Ohno decides to fix the sign himself instead of telling her what happened. A little glue should do it...until there's too much. Then a cloth smears the paint. A paper flower gets stuck in the glue. Finally, Ohno hides the damaged sign altogether.

One small mistake has suddenly become a very big problem.

When Mrs. Rabbit discovers the sign is missing, all of Yonder Creek begins searching. Pal looks. Ready is ready to search. Figure tries to figure out where a sign could have gone, and Moxie checks every little hiding place she can find.

Only Ohno knows the truth.

With each passing moment, telling that truth becomes harder. Ohno finally realizes that hiding his mistake hasn't made anything better-it has only made the problem bigger and made him feel worse.

So Ohno makes a different choice.

He stops hiding.

He tells the whole truth.

He asks how he can help.

And, with Mrs. Rabbit and his friends beside him, he begins making things right.

The repaired sign may never look exactly the way it did before, but that becomes part of its story-and Ohno adds one little green leaf beside the repair as a reminder of what he learned.

Written especially for young children and the grown-ups who guide them, Ohno's Terrible, Horrible Mistake turns an everyday childhood lesson into a simple action plan children can remember:

STOP • TELL • HELP • LEARN

Through humor, gentle consequences, friendship, and reassurance, children learn an important distinction: making an accidental mistake is not the same as choosing to hide it. Telling the truth does not magically erase what happened, but it allows others to help and gives us the chance to take responsibility and make things right.

The story also includes a colorful Can You Find It? activity and familiar friends from Yonder Creek, making an important lesson fun to revisit again and again.

Because everybody makes mistakes.

And when we do, the truth is the best place to start.