Peggy Christian

Picked this little charmer up and read it the same day. Yes, it is a children's book and a quick read, but the story line and characters pull you along.

Cervantes is a mouse who lives in a bookstore. Not just any bookstore, but and antiquarian bookstore. He loves words and knows his way around and in books. His diet is of delicious words from fancy cookbooks. He can throw sharp words and pointed remarks...and does at Milo, the bookstore cat who would love to get his claws on Cervantes.

One day show more Cervante's protective 'wall of words' gets moved and he must flee to a safer shelf. Cervantes finds himself in a very old book and becomes involved in the adventure told in the book. Knights and a dragon and storytellers are new characters to him. Will he survive this adventure and will his way with words be part of the arsenal that could slay the dragon?

This is a great read alone or out loud. It reminds me of the books by Kate DeCamillo. Her characters come alive and take you along on their exciting tales... show less

This book looks at something we usually take for granted...rocks. They are all over the place and we usually just kick them out of the way. In here, though, each rock is special and unique. Any rock might be a fossil rock, a skipping rock, a mossy rock, or maybe a rock that just reminds you of a place. Every child can find a rock and if they think hard enough, they can figure out a use for that rock. This book could help students with a writing lesson. Too many times, kids say they "can't show more think of anything to write." This book makes a whole story out of simple rocks. With a little imagination, anything can be turned into a fascinating subject and a nice picture book. show less

If You Find a Rock is a poetically written book by Peggy Christian about rocks that people discover and what they may mean. The book entails the wondrous feeling children get when they find rocks then try to fill their parents' pockets with them. The artwork consists of photographs of children known by the author playing with found stones. This would be the perfect book to read to a group of children right before a nature walk.

Photographs demonstrate all this things you can do with a rock such as skipping and making rings in the water. This is an excellent example of literary/ narrative non-fiction. It is also the peaceful story of actively investigating rocks.

This book will fill kids with ideas of things to do with rocks, and might possibly make them want to learn even more about rocks and other related sciences. It makes a good addition to a lesson on soil, rocks, and minerals. It is definitely a hit for the show more outdoors type. show less