Captain Brave and the Bumpy Ride: A Children's Book About Resilience for Kids Ages 4-8

By Bill Dunbar

What do you tell a child who wants to give up?

Finn and his little red biplane Ruby take off into a windy sky - and everything goes wrong. The wind shoves them sideways. The rain hammers down. Ruby's engine coughs and slows. And when they finally land, they land hard: a THUMP, a BOUNCE, and a picnic basket flying across the wet grass.

Sitting in the mud with a shaking chin, Finn says the thing every child eventually says.

"I'm done. I don't want to ride."

Then Grandpa comes walking across the field in his old leather jacket, kneels down in the puddles beside him, and tells him the truth every brave heart needs to hear:

A bumpy ride doesn't mean give up and cry -
it just means the sky wants to see you retry.

Written by a real pilot - a U.S. Army helicopter pilot, Coast Guard rescue aviator, Naval Aviator and commercial airline captain - this is a warm rhyming story about the courage it takes to climb back in after a hard landing.

INSIDE THIS BOOK:
- A gentle rhyming story about resilience, perfect for reading aloud
- Rich cinematic illustrations on every page
- Twelve activity pages: a storm maze, a word search, counting, matching, tracing, coloring and more
- The Captain Brave Pledge and a Junior Pilot Certificate to sign

Perfect for children ages 4-8 who are learning that bumps are not the end of the story.

Book 2 in the Captain Brave series. Ages 4-8.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0HFTXHK5P
• ISBN13: 9798192486795
• Release Date: August 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 8.5" x 8.5"