PPBF: The Tallest Tree House

Do you ever feel like this as you slide into summertime?


What are your go-to strategies
to prevent this from happening?

Carve out an hour and check out the Character Strong webinar
I hosted on Combatting Fatigue for some actionable tips
around well-BEing, self-care and mindfulness.

One of the fairies in today's PPBF could definitely benefit
from our suggestion not to try go it alone.


Title: The Tallest Tree House
Author/Illustrator: Elly MacKay
Publisher: Running Press Kids
Birth Date: April 23, 2019
Suitable for: ages preK-3rd grade
Themes: mindset, grit, teamwork
Brief synopsis: When Mip and Pip decide to compete against one another in building the tallest tree house the fastest, they learn an important lesson about preparation, collaboration and teamwork.
Opening lines: 
Fairies are sometimes easy to miss.
But Mip was not one of them.
La La La.
She could be heard singing above
the sound of the waterfall.

Resources:

Read the Kirkus Review {here}
Here's a read-aloud of the story from You Tube. 


Why I like this book: Using two adorable fairies, this newcomer pits a thoughtful planner against her impulsive friend in a friendly competition to create The Tallest Tree House. Not only does it beg the question, Can creativity be rushed? but it ultimately tackles the notion that Together we're better. 

A hurried Mip jumps head first into the contest and works frantically to slap together something epic. Based on his architecture research, Pip, on the other hand, uses his time to thoroughly plan his tower by drawing blueprints and mapping out his steps to success. 

Busily unaware that a storm is brewing, Mip quickly finds that her structure isn't strong enough to withstand the ferocious wind that blows through. The competition ends abruptly when the friends survive the storm together; will they give up or will grit help them bridge the gap that will ultimately connect them and their ideas for the greater good.

Ahhhhhh, teamwork, a powerful lesson in the beauty of
moving from me to we.

Compare and contrast with these Aesop's fables
sing alongs of The Ant and The Grasshopper and
The Tortoise and The Hare after posing the question:
Does slow and steady always win the race?

Then invite your students to create a song
for Mip and Pip. How fun would that be?

So many little nuggets of wisdom embedded in 
this {realistically} fictional forest; check it out today.

Then head on over to Susanna Hill's blog for
today's other PPBFs including I'm Happy-Sad Today,
a pick that looks like it's right up my alley.





4 comments

  1. This reminds me a little of Too Tall Houses by Gianna Marino. Here I especially like the emphasis on the time needed for creative ideas to develop.

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  2. The opening to that video is hilarious! Teamwork, a skill that everyone needs to develop if we are to make it through school, through our jobs, through our lives. I'll be taking a look at this one since one of my current WIPs is about this very thing. Thanks for the rec!

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  3. I like this book, especially the combination of creativity and teamwork. Thanks for highlighting it.

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  4. architecture and teamwork and a big storm - sounds like a perfect book for summer.

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I really enjoy hearing from my readers; thanks for sharing your reflections with us!