A Stone Sat Still

Really beautifully illustrated book with a deeper meaning, which I really loved, but slow pace, so that it might be a bit boring for some children. I bought this for my 7-year old, who seems to have something lyrical and philosophical. Interestingly though, it was my younger daughter, aged 5, who showed more interest in this, perhaps because she is a more visual person.

My son (4) loves this book. It's not a story. There are just a few words and that actually helps the children to develop their curiosity and their imagination. Drawings are very beautiful

Lovely story, beautiful images.

Another absolute zinger from Brendan Wenzel who wrote the text and illustrated the book.This book is about a stone and the perspectives of the people and animals that see it. To some it is large, to some it is home, to some it's a smell. The stone just sits there and just is while the world moves around it.Like They All Saw A Cat, this book is about perspective and how we all see things differently but it doesn't change the thing we are perceiving.On a deeper level, this book is all poetry and beauty and appreciating our world as it is. Just a glorious piece of work.

The humble rock. It's just there, isn't it? Unmoving, unchanging, uninteresting.Well, actually, after this book, it won't look the same again...This can become as deep as you make it - in rhymes that work, with repetition that makes this a poem, the rock shows how perspective changes how you view things. To the slug it is rough, the hedgehog finds it smooth. In Spring it might look green covered in leaves, in winter it takes on a bluish hue. To one it is wild, to another it is home. The bird flying past views it in a blink, the snail feels it is an age.The vocabulary of opposites and what they mean/represent cover a wealth on concepts, concerned with the passing of time and the lives of animals. It's very clever and there are so many different tangents discussion could spring off into.Not only the words, but the illustrations are rather stunning as well. Superb colours, landscapes, I loved the beautiful water pages, and some rather uniquely designed animals.This may go over the heads of preschoolers in general, but for ages 4/5 to 9, there is so much here that can be brought out, just in one picture book. Marvellous.With thanks to the publisher for the sample reading copy.