The Remembering Stone

March 20, 2023
In Sookocheff’s quiet, hopeful story, a girl finds a way to remember her late grandfather after she loses the object that reminds her of him. During a classroom Show and Share, Alice, portrayed with light skin, tells her peers about the perfectly round, quarter-size stone she treasures: it holds dear memories of her grandfather, who taught her to skip stones. But when she reaches into her pocket during recess, it’s gone. Her racially diverse classmates’ attempts to help her find the object turn up plenty of rocks, but not hers. Back at home, her pocketful of their finds, and reflections on her peers’ kindness, inspire a new way to recall her grandfather’s life. Acrylic gouache and graphite images use a cool palette with lots of gray hues, while show-and-tell language reveals the story’s progression and the feeling of comfort to be found in a supportive community. Ages 3–6.

February 3, 2023

PreS-Gr 3-A recounting of the bereavement of a young child who has recently lost her grandpa. When Alice brings a small round stone to show-and-tell at school, the little rock isn't much to look at. Her classmates are not impressed until she shares that it is a special memento from time spent skipping stones with her grandpa, who has died. Alice has happy memories of spending time with him at the lake, although her grandpa skipped stones with great skill and she never quite got the hang of it. At recess, Alice realizes that she has misplaced the treasured stone. Understanding its significance, Alice's classmates assist her in retracing her steps, finding many "wrong" stones along the way. When she leaves school with her pockets full of new pebbles, Alice is secure in the knowledge that each one represents a friend who tried to help her, and this warms her heart with new memories and fills her with a sense of being heard, seen, and loved. Alice returns to the water's edge, and practices skipping all of her new stones. Even though they sink to the bottom of the lake like before, she has found peace in the practice of skipping them in her grandpa's memory. Scenes of Alice at school and beside the lake are illustrated in calm and soothing muted browns and blues. VERDICT Readers will find the topic of childhood grief is handled gently here and human connections are celebrated. Recommended for fiction collections.-Lauren Younger

Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2023
Alice brings a special stone to school for Show and Share but loses it. With some humor, the illustrations depict a diverse group of classmates clearly uninterested in light-skinned, brown-haired Alice's round, flat stone. They unanimously show interest once Alice confides that she has not mastered stone-skipping and had been saving this perfect skipping specimen--given to her by her grandpa--for the next time they practiced together. Her grandpa died before that chance came, making this stone a beloved keepsake. Both text and art are simple and thoughtful: "Everyone was quiet as Alice slipped the stone back into her pocket." Brown-skinned Mr. Hawkins gently thanks Alice, and a brown-skinned classmate takes Alice's hand as the children head outside for recess--only for Alice to realize the stone is missing. The text makes clear there were many opportunities for the stone to have slipped from Alice's pocket; the possibility of theft is not even entertained. Every child searches diligently, each finding a different stone, until Alice has stone-laden pockets--but not her special one. When Alice arrives home, she conceives a new plan for remembering her grandpa. Art in a muted palette, an inspired layout, and accessible text work together to tell a quiet yet complex tale that deals candidly with grief, kindness, and one child's creativity and resilience--without undue sentimentality. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Sweet support during loss. (Picture book. 4-8)

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