Buster Tries to Bail: When You Are Stressed by David and Nan Powlison

Buster has a big race coming up and his coach won’t let him forget it. Buster is practicing three times a day, working on his running log, and pushing himself. His coach is worried that he won’t be the coach of the year again. Buster finally feels like he has all he can handle and tells his family he is not going to run in the race. After talking with his dad, Buster realizes that he was listening to many voices, but not the most important one. Buster knows now that he can live under Jesus and focus on His voice alone.

The next day, Buster tells his coach what he has learned and his coach apologizes for putting Buster under so much pressure and acknowledges that he needs to live under Jesus too. Buster runs the race and tries his best.

In this well-crafted book, Buster is a very relatable character for many children.  It is amazing to me how many young children now struggle with stress. I appreciate that this book shows that sometimes children’s stress can be greatly influenced by the adults in their life. I also like that they showed how the coach was struggling with stress as well and the answer to both his and Buster’s problem was Jesus. No matter the age, the answer is Jesus. I did think it was a little odd, although it is not technically illegal, that Buster’s dad wrote on a dollar bill.

This beautifully illustrated, real-life applicable, truth-speaking book is one that I highly recommend for your family!

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1. What were the reasons Buster was feeling stressed?
2. What things make you feel stressed?
3. What changed that made Buster calmer? (Was it his circumstances or his heart?)
4. What does it look like to live under Jesus?
5. How can you remind yourself to live under Jesus?