The Poem My Grandfather Taught Me: How Kipling's 'If' Became the Heart of Gabriel's Story
Dec 10, 2025"If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you..."
I recite the first verse of Rudyard Kipling's "If" nearly every morning. Have done for years. It's the poem my Yorkshire grandfather would recite—a stoic man of few words, but brilliant at delivering monologues. I'd ask for his recitations again and again.
That poem didn't just stay with me. It wove itself into The Adventures of Gabriel.
The Layers You Didn't Know Were There
When Gabriel and I started our Friday night FaceTime storytelling sessions, I wasn't consciously thinking about Kipling. I was thinking about one hour a week, about keeping connection alive during impossible circumstances, about giving my son something to hold onto.
But the themes found their way in anyway.
The Adventures of Gabriel became my metaphor about not giving up, about holding on when there's nothing left except the will that says "hold on."
And then, at the very end of The Shadow of Zuff, Gabriel's magical journal glows and tells him:
"Gabriel, if you can dream and not make dreams your master. If you can think and not make thoughts your aim. If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run, yours is the earth and everything that's in it."
Gabriel and Platy look at one another and smile.
"And which is more, you'll be a man, my son."
Why This Matters
When I hand teachers Gabriel's books, they see adventure stories. Fun. Dragons and chess puzzles and bamboo labyrinths.
They don't always see the scaffolding underneath, the resilience framework, the emotional regulation through metaphor, the literary lineage connecting a Yorkshire grandfather's voice to a young boy's published work.
But it's all there.
Every story has layers. The children we work with through StoryQuest™ are weaving their own, fears becoming dragons, hopes becoming heroes, lived experiences transforming into narratives they control.
What My Grandfather Gave Me
He gave me the tools to survive impossible circumstances with dignity intact.
He gave me language for endurance that doesn't sound like suffering. He gave me a poem that turns resilience into rhythm.
And somehow, without planning it, I hope I gave those same tools to Gabriel. Who's now giving them to other children.
That's how stories work. They travel through generations, across cultures, into imaginations we'll never meet. My grandfather couldn't have known his Yorkshire voice would echo in his great-grandson's bestselling books. But here we are.
Two Ways Forward:
Option 1: Start Your Family's Storytelling Tradition
Download the Golden Question Guide and Chapter 1 of The Adventures of Gabriel. Create your own family storytelling ritual tonight.
👉 Download Free Family Guide
Option 2: Read Gabriel's Complete Adventures
Ready to experience the full story that started with a grandfather's poem?
Or explore the Family Kit with activities and Kate's masterclass.
