Stick and Stone by Beth Ferry and Tom Lichtenheld

Reviewed by Lori
Stick And Stone
Title: Stick and Stone

Authors: Beth Ferry and Tom Lichtenheld

Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 109290

Description: Stick and stone are both lonely until Pinecone's teasing causes one to stick up for the other, and a solid friendship is formed.




Curriculum Links: 

  • Anti-Bullying
  • Equity and Diversity
  • Character Education: Empathy
  • Reading: Transforming
  • Reading: Visualization
  • Social Studies: Feelings
  • Writing: Word Choice



Notes: 

 Design: This is a lovely designed square format picture book.  The end pages are white with the first inner page showing a stick laying at the base of a tree.  The smiles of stick and stone on the cover are reflective of children and the text on the back exemplifies the theme of the book -- "Meet stick and Stone.  They stick up for each other, because friends rock!"  And these friends certainly do.

Contents: Stick and stone, lonely and alone, until stone is teased by a little pinecone.  That's when stick, sticks up for stone, and a friendship is formed.  This story is an excellent one to discuss empathy and friendship.  The things stick and stone do together are things many children do - adventure, explore, play at the shore etc.  And when separated, come together again in the end.  I appreciated that the prickly pinecone makes another appearance at the end of the book to apologize to stone.  And it appears as if they all could be friends.

Recommended Audience:  Kindergarten to Grade 8

  • Great Book for discussing anti-bullying and empathy
  • Simple text and illustrations make it appealing to a younger audience
  • Word play and theme make it a good title for older audiences 


Inquiries and Activities: 

  • Use pastels and art paper to make your own pictures of stick and stone.   What are they doing?  What games might they enjoy together?
  • Why do you think the authors chose to use a stick and stone as characters in the book?
  • Think about words that have more than one meaning.  What are these words called?  How does the word play help you connect to the story?
  • What would you do if you saw someone being teased?  What could you do to help?
  • Can you empathize with stone?  Has anyone ever made fun of you?  

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for Reading!

Popular posts from this blog

The Poet's Dog by Patricia MacLachlan

Reviewed by Lori
Image
Title: The Poet's Dog Author: Patricia MacLachlan Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 127678 Description:   An abandoned dog, able to speak only to poets and children, rescues a pair of young children stranded in the forest. Together, they find a way to overcome their losses. Rubric Rating: Level 4 - Love It Why I Read It: Poetry and Dogs... what more can I say.  Notes: This is one of those novels that I absolutely love.  It is written for a younger audience but there are deeper aspects to the story that are very appealing to an adult reader.   The story is encapsulated within 88 pages, and spells out the story of Teddy, the poet's dog, whose master has passed away, and Flora and Nickel, two children he finds lost in a blizzard.   The children are left in a car by their mother as she goes to look for help after getting stuck in the snow.  The children get scared and leave the vehicle and get lost in the woods where they are found by Teddy who brings them home.  Flo
Read more

Brain Jack by Brian Falkner

Reviewed by Lori
Image
Title: Brain Jack Author: Brian Falkner Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 128664 Description:   In a near-future New York City, computer genius Sam Wilson manages to hack into the AT&T network and sets off a chain of events that have a profound effect on human activity throughout the world. Rubric Rating: Level 4 - Love It! Why I Read It: Interesting write up in the catalogue and a growing interest in tech-related reading. Notes: Sam is a seventeen-year-old Hacker, one of the best around.  So good that he is able to hack into the telecomerica head offices and order a couple of "neuro" headsets for himself and his friend Fargas.  The latest technology that allows you to directly access the computer network using only your brain.  But Sam's hacking brings down services for three days - something that will go down in history.  That's when the CDD (the cyber defence division) start watching him.  It's not long before they hack Sam back and he's arrested.
Read more

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Reviewed by Lori
Image
Title:  All the Light We Cannot See Author: Anthony Doerr Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 98669 Description:  A blind French girl on the run from the German occupation and a German orphan-turned-Resistance tracker struggle with their respective beliefs after a fortuitous meeting on the Brittany coast. Rubric Rating: Level 4 - Love It! Why I Read it: This book has been on my reading list for awhile and it was recommended to me by several people. Lori's Notes: This was a fantastic novel.  It may seem overwhelming in terms of size but the individual chapters are very short and read almost like mini short stories within the book.  The characters alternate between Marie-Laure a blind Parisian girl, and Werner an orphan German boy. Marie-Laure's father, Daniel LeBlanc, works in a Paris Museum as a key master and designs intricate puzzle boxes for his daughter.  Werner lives in a children's home with his sister Jutta and because of his interest in radios is quickly recruit
Read more