After the Fall

Title:  After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again

Author/Illustrator: Dan Santat
Publisher Roaring Brook Press © 2017
ISBN:  978-1-62672-682-6
Grade Level:  K-5
Book Review: Have you even considered what happened to Humpty Dumpty after the fall?  We know that our past experiences shape our beliefs and in this story Dan Santat provides rich food for thought about just how impactful the fall was to Humpty Dumpty. Santat teaches a powerful lesson about resilience as we learn that even though Humpty Dumpty took a fall, he also got back up.
Systems Thinking Connections:
Habits:  No doubt, students with any familiarity with the Habits of a Systems Thinker could generate a substantive list of the Habits that Humpty uses in this story.  He definitely changes his perspective, practices successive approximation, and he finds leverage to help his problem.
Tools: Humpty Dumpty takes actions that help him accumulate courage to try find a way to get back up. Build a stock-flow diagram with students and then ask questions to help them identify the leverage that helps Humpty move from being a broken egg to being a systems thinker.

The Most Magnificent Thing

Title:  The Most Magnificent Thing

Author:  Ashely Spires
Illustrator:  Ashley Spires
Publisher: Kids Can Press © 2014
ISBN: 978-1-55453-704-4
Grade Level: PreK-3
Book Review:  One day this regular girl and her canine assistant decide to make "the most magnificent thing."  Despite  a perfectly clear vision of what it is and how it should work, this regular girl encounters some serious frustration as she seeks to actualize her vision. Perseverance pays off, but as important as her final product, is what she learns about herself along the way.
Systems Thinking Connections:
Habits: This book could be subtitled, checks results and changes actions if needed:  "successive approximation."  In a crystal clear, yet understated way, Spires shares with her readers the process of creating something magnificent.  In the true spirit of "successive approximation" Spires writes, "There are some parts of the WRONG things that are really quite RIGHT." In a way that is very accessible to young children this book shows the importance of failing fast, learning from your mistakes and moving forward to create something even better than what you may have imagined.
Tools:  Graphing this regular girl's frustration would be an awesome way to introduce  behavior-over-time graphs or to reinforce the tool for students who are already familiar with it. To follow up on their BOTGs around the story students could identify their own experience of frustration and use a BOTG to tell the story of their level of frustration and what steps they took to manage it.  This book also lends itself to use with a goal gap loop.  The protagonist in the story has a clear vision of what she wants to create, but there is a gap.  She applies different strategies to bring her closer to her goal.  Her story could be retold using a goal gap loop, increasing comprehension of the text while at the same time helping students be more mindful of using the goal gap to create their own "most magnificent thing" whatever it may be.

Rosie Revere, Engineer

Title:  Rosie Revere Engineer

Author:  Andrea Beaty @andreabeaty
Illustrator:  David Roberts
Publisher:  Abrams Books for Young Readers
© 2013
ISBN:  978-1-4197-0845-9
Grade Level:  K-3
Book Review: Rosie the Riveter was the iconic symbol for the role of women in the war effort during World War II. Rosie Revere, Engineer captures the power of that symbol in a modern tale for young readers on the power of pursuing your dreams.  In this fictional story, Rosie has a dream of being an engineer, but when well-meaning relatives laugh at her creations, she seeks to hide her dreams. Written in clever couplets with intriguing illustrations, the book delivers a powerful message about following your dreams no matter what and learning that failure is an essential part of success.
Systems Thinking Connections:
Habits:  Rosie learns lessons in this story that mirror several habits of a systems thinker.  Rosie realizes the power of Successive Approximation.  Great-great-aunt Rose helps Rosie understand that when something doesn't work, it is not a failure, but rather an opportunity to by pay attention to what did work.  Recognizing how much she can learn from her mistakes, Rosie is well on her way to knowing how to make the next iteration even better than the first. In order to apply Successive Approximation Rosie must also practice considers an issue fully and resists the urge to come to a quick conclusion.  Whether your unit of study is focused on engineering, women in engineering or innovation, Rosie Revere, Engineer makes it easy to deepen student understanding of the habits of a systems thinker in service to the curriculum specific outcomes being learned.
Tools:  Rosie Revere, Engineer is a book about accumulations.  You could choose to label the "stock" of her lessons learned in a number of ways:  ingenuity, innovation, persistence, power of a dream, to name a few.  Whichever stock you choose the factors that increase and decrease that stock are clearly articulated in the story.  What a great conversation to have with your students to discover what truly fuels innovation.

Innovation