Title: Old Rock (is not boring)
Author and Illustrator: Deb Pilutti
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2020
Themes: Rock Life Cycle, friendship, contentment, STEM
Opening Lines: OLD ROCK had been sitting in the same spot at the edge of the clearing in the middle of the pine forest, for as long as anyone could remember. And before that.
So begins the story of Old Rock. Lady beetle, Pine tree, and Hummingbird think it's a boring existence, but Old Rock, shares its journey and tells a story that is anything but boring.
Why I think you will love this book:
It's hard for me to imagine that anyone wouldn't love a book about a rock. I have always loved rocks and have collected many over the years.
Growing up on the Great Lake Michigan, I discovered rocks everywhere. I find something fascinating about each rock. Sometimes it's because its so smooth other times, its because it has so many types of minerals all together, and sometimes, the shape is the thing that attracts me.
My first and maybe only science fair project was about rocks. It wasn't very good. As I recall, it was basically a show-and-tell of rocks. I remember being asked to talk about the rocks, but the big words like metamorphic and igneous got stuck and mixed up in my head. Words didn't flow when I tried to explain. My love of rocks didn't fade, but the thought of becoming a geologist did.
This book introduces you to one rock's life cycle through a conversation with the creatures and trees that live around the rock. No big words, yet we discover Old Rocks journey and very long life. (Maybe it will encourage a child who loves rocks to continue on a path to becoming a geologist.)
It's a story where we learn to ask questions, listen and change our point of view about life and another person's (or rocks) perspective.
At the end, one page takes a child through a time line history of Old Rock.
Resources and Activities:
This book pairs nicely with a couple other books about rocks, providing a great package for learning, exploring, and imagining.
Check out Deb's Activity's to go along with this book.
A word search puzzle. (Save the image to your computer, then you can print it.)
Go on a rock collecting adventure. Make a drawing of the rock.
Have a conversation with someone you think is boring and see if you can discover how exciting he/she/they are.
Something to Eat:
When I was growing up they called it GORP
Theses days it goes by trail mix. Like so many things, I never knew what gorp stood for (Good ol' raisins and peanuts).
Today you can make it just about any way you can imagine. In fact, Monday, August 31st is National Trail Mix Day. Get a head start on your experiments and make some trail mix or GORP to take on a rock hunting adventure.
My Trail mix would include:
Pistachios, pecans, chocolate chips, dried cranberries and a handful of Trader Joe's Crunchy Curls. I don't measure. just kind of mix a handful of each item in a reusable container, shake it up, and toss it in my back pack.
If you have ideas for making trail mix, ways to remember hard words, or how to make or do other fun rock crafts and activities, I love to hear about them.
You can support the author by asking your library to buy this book or buy your own copy.
Share this post so others can learn about the book too.
