Perfect Picture Book Friday/ Everybody Needs a Rock

Hi Readers! 

Cheerios Presents…Spoonfuls of Stories. “Cheerio’s commitment to kids doesn’t stop with breakfast. Studies show that kids who grow up around books become better readers. That’s why they’ve given away 30 million books and counting. Bringing kids and books together.” This is another book in my Cheerios and Spoonfuls of Stories series. If you’re interested in seeing more about it here is the link.  Are you fortified with Susanna’s donuts? Or my Chocolate Cream Pie? Oh! I hope so because, readers, I want you to read on.

But before we get to PPBF I want to give links to Snogames from our very own Joanne Marple: http://utales.com/books/snow-games-3    , and the alphabet book she helped write was : http://utales.com/books/the-friendship-alphabet I blogged her as a guest last Tuesday. Right now you can get a free trial on uTales and see the books before buying them. A great deal if you ask me. But maybe you want to get on with the special recommendation for today so here we go.

Title: Everybody Needs a Rock

Author: Byrd Baylor with pictures by Peter Parnall

Published by Simon and Schuster in 1974, nonfiction

Grades K thru 5

Summary: Describes the qualities to consider when selecting the perfect rock for play and pleasure.

Themes:  self-reliance, friendship, autonomy, science, reassurance/comfort, patience, nature, books for boys, Imagination, Pets, self-expression, self acceptance, self-esteem, self-confidence, self-worth, self-reliance, rocks and minerals, Yep, I checked the list before I wrote these down. And yep, they match up. Good thinking, huh?

Resources: Teaching Earth Science with today’s Literature is http://blog.richmond.edu/openwidelookinside/archives/276.  For English and after having to close the tabs that advertise college degrees here are a wide variety of teacher guides . This lesson plan talks about how to set goals and write it on the child’s rock he found outside of school, makes a rock garden from, and when he meets his goal in six weeks, then you can say “You Rock” building more self-confidence.

Other activities suggested on the inside of this special Spoonful of Stories book is to tell a story together. One person holds a rock and begins a story such as “Once upon a time there was a rock.” Hands the rock to the next person to continue the story. The last person with the rock ends the story.  A site that explains how to classify rocks and also how to write rules for other things like leaves or shells is Carol Hurst’s web site,  including writing rules for something worth having. There was no end to google’s list of lesson plans however I had a hard time finding an image of the book that WordPress would take. All the jpgs were blurry. Finally in trying everything, I hit on the idea of getting one of these htm images and saving as, I clicked on it and it came out as a jpg. Something I could use.

First three lines: “Everybody needs a rock. I’m sorry for kids who don’t have a rock for a friend. I’m sorry for kids who only have TRICYCLES

BICYCLES

HORSES

ELEPHANTS

GOLDFISH

THREE-ROOM PLAYHOUSES

FIRE ENGINES

WIND-UP DRAGONS

AND THINGS LIKE THAT-

If

They don’t have

A

Rock

For a friend.”

Why I loved it: It gave ten very honest and clear rules on why and how someone should have a rock for a friend, their own friend. And not just any rock but a very special rock. The author is talking to the reader in a friendly conspiratorial voice while telling him such things as don’t tell anyone what is special about your rock. “Nobody is supposed to know what’s special about another person’s rock.” Then rule number one- “If you can, go to a mountain made out of nothing but a hundred million small shiny beautiful roundish rocks. But if you can’t, anyplace will do. Even an alley. Even a sandy road.”

Baylor makes even the lowest person feel special with his descriptions and his voice includes everyone. The line drawings that illustrate this book are magical. Each one has a perfect rock and a women’s figure hidden in it. And these line drawings are very simple and sparse using brown and black only.

Here is a tip from www.kidshealth.org “This story shows us that joy is abundant in the quiet and beauty of nature. Take your time getting to know this book—invite your child to take a closer look at the pictures. Can you find what’s hidden? Hang back enough to let your child lead the way.”

For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.

So tell me readers, would you like to read this book? Why?

A box of Cheerios breakfast cereal. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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