ACCESS DIGITIZED EDITION
Guide/Reviews Database
PICTURE BOOKS
Croza, Laurel

Rock

44 pp. | Groundwood | March, 2025 | Trade ISBN 9781773069487 $19.99 | Ebook ISBN 9781773069500 $16.99
(2) K-3 Illustrated by Matt James. The team behind I Know Here (rev. 5/10) and From There to Here (rev. 5/14) presents a story about standing resolute in the face of a bully who seeks to diminish one’s self-worth. A loquacious gull finds a rock on a quiet beach and asks what it is. “I am a rock,” it asserts. The gull spends the rest of the book challenging the rock, telling it that it’s not a rock (“I see you as a pebble”), that it could be tossed in the water (“you will sink...there is no guarantee you will find your way back”), and that it’s not anything special. “I am a rock,” it responds, over and over. James’s soft-edged paintings on acetate, wood, Masonite, and cardboard capture the essence of water, sand, and sky; a child meanders on the beach in the background, a visual break from the gull’s relentless harassment. The high-concept messaging may fly over children’s heads, but grounding the story in a lakeside setting gives them something concrete to focus on, and their curiosity about the child in the background will help keep pages turning. Eventually the child spots the rock, chases the gull away, and uses the rock to shape a heart on the sand—a rewarding and cathartic ending.
Reviewer: Adrienne L. Pettinelli | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2025

RELATED 

PICTURE BOOKS

Born Ready
by Patterson, Jodie
PICTURE BOOKS

The House of Grass and Sky
by Ray, Mary Lyn
PICTURE BOOKS

The Dog's Gardener
by Storms, Patricia
PICTURE BOOKS

And I Paint It
by Kephart, Beth
PICTURE BOOKS

Poem in My Pocket
by Tougas, Chris
More

Get connected. Join our global community of more than 200,000 librarians and educators.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing.

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?