Ten Birds - Cybele Young

Ten Birds starts off simply.  Or so it seems.  Birds are trying to cross a bridge.  One by one, they come up with method of crossing.

The solution seems obvious.

Or does it?

This can be a simple counting book, but I bet even little people will wonder why those silly birds just don't FLY.

I took to some good old research for this one.  I was thinking perhaps I wasn't smart enough to GET it

Simple counting book?  Sure.  A way of explaining creative thinking?  There's more than one answer! No one way is the right way?

I believe the author used birds for a very specific purpose.  We are left wondering.  If they are birds, first off, who says they HAVE to fly?  These birds don't want to fly.  They are not going to relegated to a certain role because they are birds.  Here's something that I found that sums up what I am horribly trying to explain: "A most unusual book for readers of all ages, one that brilliantly illustrates the inadequacies of labels and the idea that the best solution to a problem is often the simplest one."  Perfect. That's exactly what I was trying to say.

Of course, reading is thinking, so now I'm making a connection.  My son was recently diagnosed as LD in language.  He knows this and now we often have the discussion that even though he has difficulty with writing, he is smart in so many ways.  He is going to struggle, but I want him to see that just because writing is hard for him, he has strengths in so many other areas.

So while readers will go insane with these 'challenged' birds, wondering why they don't just spread their wings and fly, we are left to realize that perhaps there is another way.  This is a great questioning opportunity, a great way to recap a STEAM project or a math problem.  There is more than one way to approach a problem.  Bravo to those students (and especially TEACHERS) who see this as well!