Solution Seekers

All you have to do is step outside the confines of your home, school or workplace in an area with birds to recognize how well they work together to confront danger.  On any given day you can hear them excitedly chirping or squawking to announce the presence of a predator.  As you move closer to the noise, the culprit can usually be spotted.  Sometimes a group of smaller birds can be seen diving and chasing after a larger bird that has raided their territory, demonstrating the power of eliminating a pest.

Instinctively with remarkable adaptability members of the animal kingdom exhibit the necessary skills to withstand obstacles, change and threats.  Wild Ideas: Let Nature Inspire Your Thinking (Owlkids Books, April 14, 2015) written by Elin Kelsey with illustrations by Soyeon Kim asks readers to observe and learn.  Over long periods of time creatures in our world have continually created answers to questions.

Problems are like sticker burrs.
They poke.
They prick.
They nag.

Occasionally problems provide solutions coming to us in a flash.  Have you noticed how squirrels will start and stop and dash, start and stop and dash when crossing a busy road?  They've watched and altered their behavior.

Animals are always waiting and thinking.  Each specie approaches a dilemma differently.  Orangutans build nests, not only for sleeping but for pausing and pondering.  It might be necessary like gibbons to hold on and then take a leap toward a better direction.

If you can be still for long enough, you can monitor the process a particular animal uses to accomplish a goal.  They might not succeed on the first attempt but they do not give up.  Did you know chimpanzees fold leaves to scoop up water?

Humpback whales and bubbles work together.  A gifted special effects make-up artist and a mimic octopus have quite a bit in common.  Sometimes animals, like us, need help from family members.  Elders offer advice.

Even the constellations guide smaller members of the wildlife kingdom.  You can't live life without problems.  Look to our animal neighbors for solutions.  Connect, consider, concentrate and correct.

As if we are in a one-on-one conversation with Elin Kelsey she presents to readers the problem solving abilities of a variety of animals who are most at ease on land, sea or air,  Readers and listeners will be challenged by the verbs in her two-word sentences, inviting learning and discussion.  Distinctive parallels are made between those difficulties encountered by animals and those children find in their daily lives.  Here is another sample passage.

When these animals want to
make something happen...
they try.
They get frustrated.
They try again.
They invent tools.


Initially looking at the matching dust jacket and book case you are drawn to the illustrative work of Soyeon Kim.  All of the images are created in dioramas then photographed for publication.  Their ethereal beauty is breathtaking.  The picture extends to the left, the back, with a bear, bees and a child bearing a berry branch in the lower left-hand corner.  One of the final illustrations from the book is framed above this vignette.

The opening and closing endpapers are pale green.  In a darker shade drawings showcase animal creativity in eighteen labeled images.  Two title pages highlight flying birds; one carrying a little girl with arms outstretched like wings.

All of the visuals extend edge-to-edge across both pages with the exception of the final page.  The tiny elements in each scene are stunning. The children's attire and facial expressions are precious.  Kim alters her perspective from diorama to diorama.  Careful readers will see a panoramic view with text and then a portion of that will become the focus of another piece of the narrative.  It supplies a sense of continuity.

One of my favorite pictures is of the seven humpback whales swimming in a circle to create a net of bubbles.  The strings of tiny fish they hope to catch are swirling over the largest whale placed down the center of the gutter.  Two children, a girl and a boy are swimming with the whales.


Wild Ideas:  Let Nature Inspire Your Thinking written by Elin Kelsey with illustrations by Soyeon Kim takes readers into the wild letting them wander where they might not go.  Each statement supported by scientific fact is woven into the whimsical world of Kim's visuals.  This book frees us to be more than we thought we could be.  I would definitely pair this title with This Is Sadie by Sara O'Leary with pictures by Julie Morstad.

If you desire to learn more about Elin Kelsey or Soyeon Kim, follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  The publisher's website has numerous resources; seven scientific podcasts, Q & A sheets on the author and illustrator, a short video on taking the photographs of the dioramas, lesson plans are coming, the note from the author seen in the back of the book, a video of whales blowing bubbles and the press release.


Please visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher to see the titles chosen by the other 2015 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge participants.

Cast Your Votes

Toward the beginning of July 2013 Heather Moorefield, Education Librarian at Virginia Tech and current chairperson of the American Association of School Librarians Best Websites for Teaching & Learning committee, mentioned on Twitter an application she had discovered.  Used as a polling tool, I saw it as having potential in the educational setting when students were working collaboratively on decision making.  Designed by a team in the Netherlands, it is intended for making choices in a more social setting.

As I was exploring the application this past fall, one of the examples contained material which might have been viewed as inappropriate in classrooms.  After several email exchanges with parties at the site in November, I was pleased to see this appear on their blog.  When members of an administrative team are willing to work with educators (and promptly), this is a huge plus.

Stickymoose is defined at the site as:

a voting tool that can be used with full anonymity because email and password are not mandatory.

As soon as you access the site, you can begin to create your poll.  No registration is required making this application available for students under the age of 13. 

Across the top of the page is a thin tool bar.  On the left you can click Create new Stickmoose.  On the right you can select the language, English or Nederlands. On the left-hand side is a tab when clicked opens to offer users Feedback.

In the center of the page you can begin to create your voting document.  Enter in your first question and click the blue Go! button.  You are then taken to the same page which would have appeared if you had originally selected the Multiple questions? option.  You have the optional choice to give your poll a title.

As the questions are entered in additional blanks are added so you can include more questions.  At any time you can click on the Previous tab to edit.  When you have completed your questions, simply click the blue Next button.

At the Ideas screen you can enter in possible answers to the questions you have asked.  Type in an example and choose the blue Add button.  They can be edited or deleted.  At this point you can begin to see how the voting will work.

Moving along the tool bar, your next preference is a Deadline.  A specific date can be chosen or no date at all.  Your final step is to click on the Done button.  When you do this you are asked for your name and email address as an option.

I entered in a nickname.  You could have your students do the same thing or only given a portion of their first name.  I have included an image of why they ask for an email address.  It is not necessary.  You can still monitor the activity on your poll by using the link provided.

When you click the blue Next button this final time, a screen appears providing you with two URL links.  The first is to access your poll.  The second is for you as the creator/administrator of the poll to have the ability to edit your poll and to follow the progress of any voting/changes made by participants.

When you enter in the administrator link you can view the participants' link, add a new question, change the deadline, close the Stickymoose or edit any of the other elements in your poll.  Any of them can also be deleted.  When you access the Stickymoose poll as a participant you can also see who has voted.  It is here, once you have clicked the final done, that Ideas are added.  Here is the link to my Stickymoose titled Read Aloud. Here is a link to a Stickymoose titled Book Club.  Here is a simple Stickymoose titled Iditarod.

One of the valid reasons to use a polling tool like Stickymoose in the classroom is not only as a decision making/collaboration tool, but it causes the users to think about the steps necessary to complete a project; what do I (we) need to do, who is going to do each part, where will I (we) work on this or when do I (we) need to have it done.  The simplicity of using this application, not needing to register, the ability to collaborate and receive feedback are all huge advantages.  I recommended Stickymoose and invite you to try it yourself.  Have fun!