Stuck!

Jeffers, O. (2011). Stuck. Great Britain, HarperCollins Children’s Books.
ISBN#: 987-0-00-726386-8
This book I found was rather goofy. It is about a young boy getting his kite stuck in a tree. He then did what most of us would have done, throwing something at the kite to get it unstuck. It started out pretty simply by throwing up a shoe, but when the shoe became stuck he started trying different objects that one could find close to home like doors, ladders or milkmen! But when all these things became stuck in the tree Floyd went even further he started throwing other objects you would not believe, to the point where the tree was so overcrowded with objects that there was no more room and the kite was finally shoved out. I believe this would be a good book for three to five year olds because it is straightforward and different. This book is easy to relate to because of the situation the main character is going through and the emotions that he is feeling. This is also a good book because it is just plain funny. The lesson I took from it is if you keep trying and don’t give up one can achieve anything.
I had a hard to time finding anything on the creation of the illustrations of Stuck but I believe Jeffers might have used digital media to create them. At first I thought it was paint mixed with water colour crayons because it has the same effect as when I combined the two. But then I realized some parts of his art didn’t match this style at all. The simplicity of this style had my imagination playing and gave me very vivid pictures in my mind. I enjoyed how Jeffers played with colours to evoke certain moods, for example he had on page coloured with only different tones of red to create anger, or green which for me symbolized hope or a good idea.

Building background knowledge or provoking interest for this book can be quite fun. To go about doing this I will have my felt board and attached to it I would have my tree and one object that is stuck to the top of the tree. Then we would be outside just before we read the book. The children and I would find a kite stuck in the tree and we would do whatever we could to get in unstuck (throw beach balls or other soft objects so as no one gets injured)
There are multiple places in this book that we could stop and wonder with. When he fetches the ladder I wonder if it really is “going to sort this out once and for all” or then after the ladder I wonder if he had any other good ideas. I would see if the children have any wonders here. When he has his final bright idea I wondered what it could be. If I were to chunk the book I would chunk it on the page were it says “AND THEY ALL GOT STUCK.” I would finish the book off with a final wonder on the last page. I would wonder if Floyd finally got everything unstuck from the tree and I would hear the thoughts of all the kids.
Ways to tell a story
#1 Felt story-
What I need: - Felt board any colour is ok
- Felt characters, tree, boy, kite, two shoes, a cat, a ladder, a bucket of paint, a duck, a chair, a bike, a sink, a door, a car, a milkman, an orang-utan, a small and large boat, a rhino, a truck, a house, a lighthouse, a whale, a fire truck and man, and finally a saw.
#2- rock story.
What I need: - I will need several rocks preferably some larger and some smaller to imitate the different sizes of the objects in the story. I can find rocks in nature and some in stores like Michal’s, I would also need card stock with each picture laminated then glued on to a rock with a glue gun. Or one can just paint the picture on to the rock using acrylic paint.
#3- audience participation
What I would need: -individual masks of each character which is then laminated to make it more durable. I would also need to have a large green piece of fabric to symbolize the tree.
#4-clothes line story-
What I need: a thick piece of string and 30 wooden clothes pin (there will be extras just in case), then I need a picture of each character or object in the book printed on to card board paper and then laminated. I am going to have the boy be a puppet which I will have in my hands for the presentation. I will be changing the story around for this presentation so that it is in first person and not a narrative.

Extensions:
1)Kite making- being able to make each child’s unique by letting them decorate it however they want. (Paint, ribbons…etc) then of course going outside to fly them.(lead to other books about kites)
2)Nature walk- Go out to see what other things get stuck in trees and what animals you can find in trees. I would want to discuss the differences compared to the book and then learn more about other animals(lead to other books)
3)Explore different styles of kites and the different styles in other countries. Have them draw their dream kite.
4)Books- The legend of the kite- Jiang Hong Chen
-Cat Up a tree by John Hasset and Ann Hasset
Stuck on PhotoPeach