A Stone for Sascha

Starred review from April 1, 2018

K-Gr 3-This wordless story begins with a framed image of a girl embracing her dog. In the next spread, she gathers flowers for its burial. Subsequent readings reveal the foreshadowing in these opening compositions. The title's golden hue-echoed in the flowers, necklaces worn by the girl and her father, and more-is the color to follow. After the protagonist tosses a stone across the water during the family's subsequent vacation, the narrative hurtles into a prehistoric meteor shower (or the girl's imagination) yielding veins of gold deep in the earth. Digital paintings presented in sequential panels and full-bleed spreads follow the pilfering and transformation of this particular mineral sample. The parade of civilizations rising and falling into ruin allows Becker to depict a range of architectural styles and costumes, creating the sort of arresting panoramas introduced in the "Journey" trilogy. Here, though, browns and grays comprise the palette of the past; the scenes are infused with more sfumato, as if seen through the mists of time before believably bringing the action back to the present day. VERDICT Combining a sensitive story line with high adventure and dramatic settings, this will inspire a variety of readers to envision histories of their own found objects.-Wendy Lukehart, District of Columbia Public Library

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 15, 2018
After laying her beloved dog to rest, a girl finds peace with a smooth stone that has traveled the world through the ages, in this wordless picture book by Becker.A young black girl collects flowers for her dog's grave before the family leaves for vacation. At their campsite, they set up by the shore. Night is falling as the girl finds a smooth stone at the water's edge. A pictorial transition leads to depictions of the stone's formation under the earth as dinosaurs roamed. When the stone, enormous in the beginning, protrudes from the earth, it is carried to an ancient royal building and carved. Wars, looting, decay, and repurposing send the stone from one civilization to another, to be used in a religious monument, a bridge, a work of art. The golden stone seems to glow against the shades of gray and beige in the historical scenes, and again against the dark purple and mauve of the night at camp. When a voyage ends in a shipwreck, the stone sinks to the bottom of the sea and is later carried to shore, where the girl finds it. She looks at peace as she presses the stone to her face, eyes closed. In the final scene, the stone sits on the dog's burial mound as the girl and her brother play. Readers will be enticed to explore this book's beautiful, dreamlike pictures, and the message of healing will comfort many who have known loss.Memorable and moving. (Picture book. 4-10)

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March 1, 2018
Grades K-3 Becker's wordless picture book, with its large, evocative digital illustrations, shows a story that begins with heartbreak. The tale opens with a family of four burying their family dog. The young daughter picks and lays golden flowers on top of the rock that marks Sascha's grave. When the family leaves for their vacation at the beach, the child is clearly sad that her pet will not be accompanying them. A major shift in time occurs at this point in the book to millions of years ago when a golden meteorite is seen flying toward Earth. The many metamorphoses of the orb are revealed as readers follow its history. It takes on a multitude of shapes and serves many purposes as it is transported to various countries across the globe, and eventually comes to the girl. Through the centuries, what was originally a large golden sphere is greatly reduced in size yet still serves an important purpose: to help ameliorate a young girl's grief over the loss of her beloved pet.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The first book in Becker's best-selling Journey trilogy snagged him a Caldecott Honor, and his fans are ready and waiting for this new stand-alone picture book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

Starred review from March 12, 2018
Becker’s wordless epic starts as a family of color—mother, father, daughter, son—bury their dog, Sascha. The daughter puts flowers on the grave, and then the four set off on a trip to the beach, where the girl is seen standing at the water’s edge under a starry sky. Now the action shifts. In narrow, fast-moving panels, a meteor hurtles deep into the earth, a geological upthrust of a strange yellow stone results, and small human figures are seen quarrying it and carving it into an obelisk. Over the centuries, the stone is destroyed, fitted into a bridge, rescued from a debris pile, fashioned into a chest, brought to an island, and lost in the ocean, where at last, polished by the waves, it’s discovered—by the girl. In contrast to the watercolors of his Journey series, Becker uses digitally manipulated pastel strokes to give his spreads a thick, supersaturated feel. Yet, as in his previous work, the satisfaction flows from enchanting views of action that unfolds in fanciful scenes that range across time and cultures. Remnants of ancient history, readers will realize, may lie very close at hand, and, Becker suggests, perhaps nothing is ever truly lost. Ages 5–9. Agent: Linda Pratt, Wernick & Pratt Agency.

July 1, 2018
In this circular, layered wordless tale about loss and the cycle of life, a girl buries a beloved dog, then throws a rock into the ocean. Viewers are then swept back in time, witnessing a meteor strike. Through centuries, the meteorite becomes progressively smaller until the girl picks it up to throw. Becker uses gold to identify the meteorite's iterations in sumptuous, cinematic spreads.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

May 1, 2018
Heartbreak turns into healing in this wordless tale about loss, the ways in which we ritualize grief, and the cyclical patterns of life on Earth, no less. A girl and her family bury their beloved dog in the yard, the girl's anguish apparent as she places flowers on the stone covering the burial spot. At the beach, the girl throws a rock into the ocean. ?Dramatically, viewers are then swept back to the time of the dinosaurs, witnessing a meteor strike the Earth. An early human later discovers part of the meteorite, a large, gold-colored chunk protruding from the ground. The meteorite makes its way through centuries, becoming progressively smaller?first it's used as an obelisk, then part of an enormous Buddha statue, then a keystone of a bridge, and so on?with dogs at each stop. Along with other rich tones (the brown of the girl's skin, blue-purple landscapes), Becker uses the color gold as a thread throughout the narrative to identify the meteorite's many iterations. In the end, the girl, under a sweeping night sky, picks up the very stone that has worked its way through time and places it on the grave of her dog. This circular, layered tale is marked by Becker's sumptuous, cinematic spreads. Even more epic than his Journey trilogy (Journey, rev. 9/13, and sequels), this is a story that provides new details and new understandings with multiple viewings. julie Danielson

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)