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"For a long, long time, children and adults alike have learned nature's principles through stories. Phil Ramsey plies the ancient storyteller's craft beautifully, showing us that systems thinking really is for all ages."
-Peter M. Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline

The jungle of Knith is in an uproar! The elephants are knocking down trees, acting strange, and getting frustrated with each other. Even Billibonk's best friend Cody blames him for the elephants' problems.

Why is the jungle in trouble? Why are the elephants so itchy? Why did all the birds leave Knith? And how many whys do you have to ask to become wise?

Billibonk the elephant and Frankl, his curious mouse mentor, team up and follow the looping trail of clues that lead to the heart of the mystery in the delightfully instructive fable Billibonk & the Big Itch.

Keep your own ears out for clues, and you too will see why getting the big picture is more important than scratching that itch!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Phil Ramsey has worked at Massey University in New Zealand for 12 years, teaching and conducting research in training and development and organizational learning. He is the author of the book Successful On-the-Job Training (Palmerston North, NZ: Dunmore Press, 1993) and the first book in this series, Billibonk & the Thorn Patch (Pegasus Communications, 1997). Phil and his family live in Palmerston North, New Zealand, where there are plenty of mice and an elephant who visits town with the circus, and where bug infestations are very rare.

EXCERPTS

As Billibonk trotted through the jungle, Frankl clung to the hairs atop the elephant's head. Between bounces, Frankl told Billibonk why it was taking so long to decide how to fix the itching problem.

"You see," Frankl said, "your itching isn't the problem—it's just a sign that there's a problem that needs fixing. In one way, your itching is good: The more you itch, the more you want to fix the real problem that's causing the itch."

"You're right about that," Billibonk huffed.

"We could find a way to make the itching stop, but that wouldn't fix the real problem. When you rub up against a tree, the scratching makes the itch go away. The itch comes back right away, though, because you haven't fixed the real problem."

"So…" Billibonk said gloomily, "I have to put up with the itch while we find out what the real problem is and fix it?"

Frankl reached forward and patted Billibonk's forehead. "Yes!" he said encouragingly. "You have to be brave about it. Scratching feels good; it feels like you're doing something useful. In fact, I bet most of the herd are so busy rubbing against trees that they're not even thinking about looking for a real solution. But we're going to solve the problem our own way. We're going to keep asking 'why' until we find the real problem. Then we can figure out what to do about it."