The Blue Stone: A Journey Through Life
by Jimmy Liao
Little, Brown and Company
Copyright 2008
978-0-316-11383-0
Picture Book
This unusual story begins with a beautiful blue rock lying peacefully in the heart of the forest. The people who find it want it, long for it, and thus split it into two. One piece is taken by the people, the other stays as it is.
The story follows the journey of the piece that is taken. At each stage of its trajectory the piece of rock is turned into something different: an elephant statue, a stone bird, a sea scupture, a golden moon, a sweet-faced stone cat, and so on. And each time, because the piece wants to go home and return to its place of origin, 'its heart breaks a little', until all that is left of the stone is dust in the wind... dust that drifts across the oceans until it finally reaches its other half in the heart of the forest.
The Blue Stone is a beautiful story book about hope and rebirth. The illustrations are evocative and mysterious, perfectly matching the eerie resonance of the prose. This is also a story about time and the effect it has on things. This unusual book will make a lovely gift for any child.
I can't stop.
Yesterday I had to take the car in to "the guys". I felt like such a girl. Over the weekend it started making very very scary noises and shuddery spasms under the hood. I was terrified to drive it, and on Sunday left them a quavery voiced message trying to describe the problem and asking if I could come in Monday to have it looked at.
So 5 hours at TOS yesterday for diagnosing the problem (I needed new spark plugs and spark plug related wires and whatnot), and fixing of said problem, gave me some time to knit up some more pillow bits (and also read the entire Dec. 3rd issue of People magazine which filled my head with all sorts of shallow useless information like why Celine Dion's kid's hair is so long, how Leanne Rimes lost 10 pounds doing "hot yoga", how poor Marie Osmond is having such a hard time with the divorce and her dad dying and the fainting on Dancing with the Stars, and what all the celebs are giving for gifts, etc.).
And in case you wanted to know, a loose spark plug wire results in the sending of approximately 30,000 volts of electricity willy-nilly beneath the hood of your car, and NOT into the spark plug where its supposed to go, hence the scary jolts and noises and shudders I was experiencing. Yowza! 30,000, that's a lot.
Real illustration work is calling (which is financially a good thing) so these pillows will have to take their turn in the que of current projects and tasks that's beginning to feel like an avalanche waiting to let go. I'm hoping I can maybe at least get 2 more finished tonight. Maybe. We'll see...
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Sounds cool, like it is written beautifully and a great way for kids to read about change and time. I really like the title and cover, too, even though I know that's not the best reason to be interested in a book. I wish I had kids to buy books for. Guess I'll have to buy them for myself!