“Stuck”

For this week’s review I am looking at the story of “Stuck” by Oliver Jeffers and it’s representation of problem solving and determination.

“Stuck” follows the story of young boy Floyd, who seems to find himself in a progression of unfortunate scenarios, one after another, as he gets his kite stuck in a tree. He attempts to use objects around him to get the kite down, but everything he uses just ends up in the tree. As these things keep happening, he continues to grow more and more frustrated. You can see Floyd actually change to different shades of color as he tries to solve all of his problems. By the end of it, Floyd has collected as much as a bathtub, a bicycle, a ladder, a kitchen sink, a semi truck, a lighthouse, a cat, a house, and a whale in the tree. Suddenly a firetruck passes by with a crew full of firepeople ready to help, but Floyd gets them stuck in the tree as well. When all seems lost, Floyd comes up with an idea. He collects a saw, and in a non-anticipated fashion, he throws the saw up into the tree which knocks the kite down. Floyd has retrieved his kite and he goes to bed.

This book definitely takes on a humorous approach at the end, but I think there are also some deeper meaning and encouraging idea hidden in the story. We can teach students that, like Floyd, things may come up in our day that make us feel overwhelmed or like we can’t seem to get anything right. But we can handle these things by taking a step back and finding someone or something to help us. In the book, Floyd continues to add things to the tree that make it harder and harder to get the kite down. Finally he realizes he should get a tool that is small enough to get the kite down, instead of all the large objects he had on-hand. The audience would think that he would’ve used the saw to just cut down the tree, but in reality he just solved his problem using a small tactic. This can teach kids that we can solve our problems in small ways, and we don’t always have to get angry and do what we think is right immediately. Instead, we should take a step back, find someone to help us, or find resolution in small and respectful ways.

I like this book because it can spark a really good conversation with students and it features engaging illustrations. It is also a funny book, and I haven’t reviewed many of those, so I was happy to have found this one for this week’s post.

I found myself relating to Floyd in some ways this week because I feel, in a certain sense, sort of “stuck” too. I feel like my tasks and plans continue to come up and I can’t seem to reach my end goal or sort things out. I think it is definitely the time of the school year to start feeling this way, I know that if I just take things slowly and one at a time, I’m feel less overwhelmed in the long run.

Critique: I think it would have been nice to see Floyd solve his problem in a more literal way (ie. cut down the tree with the saw), but this can always be a discussion with students after they read the book. However, down the tree is also bad for the environment so maybe the ending was purposeful. So, I’m on the fence.

Here’s a TEDTalk that embodies what this book talks about: