Are you ready to rise to the occasion?
Welcome to Operation Rise!
What is Operation Rise? That kind of depends on you. Operation Rise is a space for you to get in touch with your better self, whoever that self is and however getting in touch with its better half might look. It is a place to think about how you might rise to the occasion of your life, and to share and celebrate those moments.
What does rising to the occasion mean? Well, that also depends on you. It could be when you’ve done something for someone/something else that made you feel good, which could be as small as holding a door or cleaning out the cat pan even though it wasn’t even your day. It could be when you did something that scared you, like playing guitar for a school talent show or starting an after-school club for cheetah conservation. It might be when you did something brave, like speaking up for what you believed in even though you might get teased for it, or standing up for someone who couldn’t stand up for themselves.
These moments are entirely personal. You know then when they happen because they make you feel good inside, connected to yourself and the larger world, which is an awesome feeling. I know that sounds woo-woo, and it is. It also happens to be true.
I want you to have lots of these awesome feelings, and to celebrate these small moments with your friends, family, classmates, and with people you might not know. That’s why I (Gayle Forman) started Operation Rise. More is coming soon but for now, you can sign up for the newsletter and you or your grown-ups can follow @operationrise on Instagram. And you can ask your teacher to print out this poster for your classroom at school and use sticky-notes to write the ways you have, or want to, rise to the occasion of your life.
Want to know more about rising to the occasion or where this whole idea came from? Check out Not Nothing, a story about many people learning to rise to the occasions of their lives.
Not Nothing
By Gayle Forman
Alex is twelve, and he did something very, very bad. A judge sentences him to spend his summer volunteering at a retirement home where he’s bossed around by an annoying and self-important do-gooder named Maya-Jade. He hasn’t seen his mom in a year, his aunt and uncle don’t want him, and Shady Glen’s geriatric residents seem like zombies to him.
Josey is 107 and ready for his life to be over. He has evaded death many times, having survived ghettos, dragnets, and a concentration camp—all thanks to the heroism of a woman named Olka and his own ability to sew. But now he spends his days in room 206 at Shady Glen, refusing to speak and waiting (and waiting and waiting) to die. Until Alex knocks on Josey’s door . . . and Josey begins to tell Alex his story.
As Alex comes back again and again to hear more, an unlikely bond grows between them. Soon a new possibility opens up for Alex: Can he rise to the occasion of his life, even if it means confronting the worst thing that he’s ever done? New York Times bestselling author Gayle Forman has crafted a multigenerational story of hope, compassion, and forgiveness that is as timely as it is timeless.
★ “Powerful, heartbreaking, and hopeful.”
—Kirkus Reviews
Resources
Large format printable poster (24x36)
Large format printable poster (18x24)
