Summary: Mindy Magee finished lunch, gathered her beach chair and some books, found her favorite spot under a shade tree by the lake, and began to read. After a few minutes, she nodded off to sleep. A chilling breeze and an odd sound awakened her. In front of her was a large golden bird who introduced himself to her and extended an invitation to a party from Princess Min of the land of Zot. Should she go? Will it be dangerous? What will she tell her parents? Would she be able to return? This is a chapter book fantasy for pre-teens.
Type of Reading: family reading, anytime reading, read aloud book, middle reader book
Recommended Age: 8 to 10
Big Kid Reaction: In addition to writing a great story, the author gives the reader ample opportunity to reflect/discuss questions about family, friends, personal responsibility, curiosity, and power of a positive outlook on life.
Pros: This is a simple and imaginative adventure story. The plot is interesting and quick paced. The characters and their roles are carefully drawn and are essential to the adventure.
Cons: None.
Borrow or Buy: This book is a "buy" for a bedtime reading selection and/or for a read aloud book for the classroom.
Educational Themes: The story demonstrates the wonder of imagination, the lure of curiosity, and the power of a positive outlook on life. The plot and characters provide ample topics and situations for meaningful thought and discussion.
Literary Categories: fiction - fantasy, adventure
Date(s) Reviewed: August 2006
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The Picture Stone by David G. Hepworth (Trafford Publishing, 2006) is an excursion into fantasyland that is bound to be popular with young girls. A child's anticipation of a birthday party can be exciting enough to break through the bounds of reality. Mindy Magee's experience takes her under the rainbow (there's a switch!) into a magic land where "all things are possible" and all of the animals can talk. There are trees and birds and flowers, so the environment gives the impression of being very like our own, but brighter. It intrigued me that Princess Min, who gives the party, is so like Mindy herself she could be her twin. That is when I realized that Mindy is really on a search for self-identity.
The highlight of the story is the scene when Pedro, the clown magician, entertains at the party with his game of "What If?" The adults in Mindy's world tend to belittle her imagination, but Pedro makes her see that she has a wonderful gift, one that can be used in any number of useful and important ways. It is worth buying this book to catch the magician's act alone.
Although Mindy's gift of imagination, symbolized by the picture stone, is treated as the central lesson, I was even more impressed by the underlying theme in the story, the theme of global togetherness. We need a world where different languages and cultures no longer create barriers. It may surprise today's young people when I tell them many of us held the same ideal in the 1920's. In those days, children often belonged to an organization called Mission Band, and members received a little newspaper called World Friends. There was always a picture on the cover showing a group of children holding hands in a circle around the globe. They were of every race and dressed in the costumes of many cultures, but they were "world friends." The picture made a profound and lasting impression on me before I was eight years old, and it left me with hope for a world of brotherhood, so I was quick to recognize the importance of the "rainbow bracelets" in David Hepworth's story. Children who read this book, or hear it read, are going to remember the magic bracelets which allowed the guests at the party to communicate easily, though they spoke many different languages.
I like to see children's literature that teaches, but no one wants the lessons to be blatantly hammered home. We are safe with Mindy's story. Lessons are not preached; they are revealed as part of fun times.
There are things which could have been improved in The Picture Stone. Description can be overdone, but it can also been underdone, and that is often the case here. "A beautiful home" would have carried a much clearer image if it had been something like "a pink bungalow." A word like "spectacular" more-or-less describes a sunset, but it doesn't show it. I felt too many opportunities to employ our five senses were missed and I would have liked to see more specifics in place of generalizations, but that's an adult point of view. A child's mind will fill in the blanks.
I was also disappointed to see a dodo in the illustration supposedly representing Mindy's magical guide, the golden bird. The dodo of Mauritius is too well-known to take the place of a bird of fantasy. It would have been better to leave the bird to the child's vivid imagination. The cover of the book is exceptionally eye-catching, but this reviewer took exception to the use of photos as inside illustrations. A fantasy of this nature deserves to be illustrated by the sketches of a creative artist.
Such criticism should not deter any one from buying The Picture Stone for a young girl on the Christmas list. Mindy's adventure marks an important step in her development and it should provide stimulation for other girls gifted with imagination. This is a good children's story.