Innovation Day is only a little over a month away, and for classes in need of inspiration I have some  great books in the library for you.  Each of these books follows the true story of a challenge that was faced and then tackled through innovative thinking and creativity.  Any of these stories would lead to an amazing class project.

On the island of Koh Panyee, in a village built on stilts, there is no open space. How will a group of Thai boys play soccer? After watching the World Cup on television, a group of Thai boys is inspired to form their own team. But on the island of Koh Panyee, in a village built on stilts, there is no open space. The boys can play only twice a month on a sandbar when the tide is low enough. Everything changes when the teens join together to build their very own floating soccer field. This inspiring true story by debut author Scott Riley is gorgeously illustrated by Nguyen Quang and Kim Lien.

 

 

When Chhouk, an Asian elephant calf, was found, he was alone, underweight, and had a severe foot injury. Conservationist Nick Marx of Wildlife Alliance rescued the baby elephant. With help from the Cambodian Forestry Administration, the Cambodian School of Prosthetics and Orthotics, and an elephant named Lucky, Nick nursed Chhouk back to health and made him an artificial foot. One of the first animals to ever be fitted with a prosthetic, Chhouk helped pioneer the technology — and most importantly, was able to walk again!This true animal rescue story will satisfy animal lovers and capture the hearts of both young readers and their parents.

 

Around the world, city highways and country roads have cut through natural spaces. Wild animals are blocked from the resources they need to survive, or must make dangerous crossings across busy roads to get to them. Fortunately, solving this problem has inspired some creative solutions! Take a tour of wildlife crossings across the globe, from grassy badger bridges to underpasses for elephants. Discover how these inventive pathways have saved both animal and human lives and helped preserve ecosystems.

 

Gum. It’s been around for centuries—from the ancient Greeks to Indigenous peoples, everyone’s chewed it. But the best kind of gum—bubble gum!—wasn’t invented until 1928, when an enterprising young accountant at Fleer Gum and Candy used his spare time to experiment with different recipes. Bubble-blowing kids everywhere will be delighted with Megan McCarthy’s entertaining pictures and engaging fun facts as they learn the history behind the pink perfection of Dubble Bubble.

 

 

From the shore, the ocean looks like clear, sparkling blue but look closely at a small scoop and you’ll find the ocean looks more like soup! Our oceans are filled with plastics, from water bottles and take-out containers to the teeny tiny plastic particles you need a microscope to see. But who exactly cooked up this stinky soup? And, more importantly, what is the recipe for getting (and keeping) our oceans clean? This bouncing, rhyming story pulls no punches about how we ended up in this sticky mess but also offers hope and help for cleaning up this ocean soup.

 

Tippy, tippy, tippy, Pat!
That’s the sound three hungry bunnies make when the sun goes down and the moon comes up and Mr. McGreely’s garden smells yum, yum, yummy. While he’s dreaming of his mouth-watering carrots, the bunnies are diving over fences and swimming trenches to get the veggies first!
Hammer, hammer, hammer, Saw!
That’s the sound Mr. McGreely makes when the sun comes up and the moon goes down and he sees what those twitch-whiskers have done….Nibbled leaves! Empty stalks! Mr. McGreely will build something bigger and better, sure to keep even pesky puff-tails away.

 

“A celebration of multiple intelligences, teamwork, and kid power.” — School Library Journal (starred review)
Miss Breakbone hates kids. Especially the time-squandering, mind-wandering, doodling, dozing dunderheads in her class. But each kid’s special talent is crucial to a spectacular display of teamwork that teaches Miss Breakbone a lesson she won’t soon forget. From the incomparable Paul Fleischman comes a winning cast of underdogs- and one of the most terrifying teachers you’ll ever meet — brought to vivid life in David Roberts’s quirky, hilarious illustrations.