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29th out of 127 books
—
74 voters
If Rocks Could Sing: A Discovered Alphabet
Amazing rocks, found on a stretch of beach near the author's home, comprise this unique alphabet book. A is for Addition, and there are rocks in the shape of real numbers, too. B is for Bird, and there is a bird rock on a nest with an egg. G is for Ghosts, and there is a host of rocks that look like ghosts! Children and adults alike will pore over these fascinating rocks,...more
Hardcover, 48 pages
Published
May 24th 2011
by Tricycle Press
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I love rocks. I love finding rocks that look like other things. I like keeping those rocks out in a basket or in a small tin where I can look and feel them again. This is my little rock collection on steroids. It took patience for the author to find rocks representing every letter of the alphabet and then more to illustrate matching words. But it was worth the result. This is a simple and fun way to teach kids the alphabet.
Rocks come in all shapes and sizes, and nobody knows this better than Leslie McGuirk. Whilst beachcombing in Florida, Ms. McGuirk came across several rocks that looked like letters of the alphabet. From these, she drew inspiration for an alphabet completely composed of these strange, almost soft-looking creations of sandstone. If Rocks Could Sing is the result: a simple yet lovely work that uses rocks to depict each letter of the alphabet and illustrate their function.
Though the strangely round...more
Though the strangely round...more
If Rocks Could Sing: A Discovered Alphabet by Leslie McGuirk is an amazing ABC book using discovered rocks.
The text is in a large font with the key word in a larger font. Each letter of the alphabet is a photographed rock shaped like a letter. The front book flap explains that the author has collected rocks that look like each letter of the alphabet and rocks resembling objects beginning with each letter of the alphabet along a stretch of Florida seashore. An author's note at the back explains...more
The text is in a large font with the key word in a larger font. Each letter of the alphabet is a photographed rock shaped like a letter. The front book flap explains that the author has collected rocks that look like each letter of the alphabet and rocks resembling objects beginning with each letter of the alphabet along a stretch of Florida seashore. An author's note at the back explains...more
1 like · like · see review
view 1 comment
Feb 20, 2012
Lisa Vegan
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
readers who like alphabet books, rocks, rock collectors, nature
Recommended to Lisa by:
Kathryn
I loved this book. It’s an unusual and creative and informative alphabet book. I appreciated the author’s photo as it was and her note about the rocks and the little scientific paragraph about what rocks are.
I collected rocks as well as shells when I was young and would have always loved this book.
At first I wanted the illustrations to contain nothing but rocks but I grew to enjoy some of the other props.
As is typical, the letter X was a bit problematic, and the only rock found in Maine and n...more
I collected rocks as well as shells when I was young and would have always loved this book.
At first I wanted the illustrations to contain nothing but rocks but I grew to enjoy some of the other props.
As is typical, the letter X was a bit problematic, and the only rock found in Maine and n...more
6 likes · like · see review
If Rocks Could Sing: A Discovered Alphabet, by Leslie McGuirk is a corky addition to alphabet books. She takes rocks that took a long time and a lot of patience to find around that look like letters and or numbers or other things, and used them to teach us the alphabet. My favorite is e is for elephant and there was a rock in the shape of an elephant! I would say this book is for younger students because it is an alphabet book but I could stretch as far as about first grade. Children who like na...more
What a great concept! Author Leslie McGuirk collected all of the rocks for this book from beaches in Florida (with the X-ception of the letter "X" which was found in Maine). Not only does she find rocks in the shape of all letters in the alphabet, but rocks shaped like the things those letters describe. For example, an L-shaped rock and a rock shaped like a Lemon. In a few cases, she was a bit less literal, such as the "J" standing for "Joy" and represented by what looked to me to be two smiling...more
6 likes · like · see review
Written by Leslie mcGuirk (2011) and photos by Denise Richie. Tricycle Press, Random House Children's Books, New York. This is a wonderful ABC book and it is done with photos of rocks picked up on the Florida beach. The rocks are sandstone and shaped by the ocean into all the alphabet. It is really fun to look at and the there are different shapes of rocks to show the words which go with each letter like: a bird shaped rock for B, elephant head shaped rock for E, ghosts for G, a mitten shaped ro...more
What a unique alphabet book! The author found a rock in the shape of every letter. (From the note at the end: "For many years, I waited for the letter K to appear. There was nothing I could do to make it show up. I understood that nature has its own timing, and my job was to be aware and expectant.") Then, she found something that begins with each letter -- some of these are immediately obvious, and some require some peering. All in all, a simple and creative idea that would be fun to try on you...more
Brilliant in its concept. So brilliant that I wish I had thought of it!
Taking completely unaltered rocks the author personally found, we are given a simple, yet totally cool alphabet book. The rocks are each in the shape of a letter of the alphabet, as is whatever the letter is standing for. We have "b is for bear," "q is for question mark," "i is for igloo," and my favorite "g is for ghosts."
At the end, readers are given a neat explanation of how McGuirk came about the idea of this book and h...more
A beautiful and unusual alphabet book. Though I've picked up many shells from Florida beaches, I haven't seen (or haven't noticed?) rocks like this . . . I'll definitely be looking next time. The book is well designed, with overall simple composition dominated by neutral tones of gray (the rock color), browns, white and black. Touches of color add empahsis. Some of the compositions are funny (u is for up, with two rocks on a seesaw) and sweet (j is for Joy) and they are often clever. The many "g...more
I LOVE this little book. What fun to discover the alphabet through rocks--through things that you or I can simply find while out on a hike or at the beach. This book could have been horrid, but they designed the pages beautifully and added so many little twists of fun and humor into the basic theme. Each page covers one letter of the alphabet so J, for example says J is for Joy. The letter J is a photo of a rock and the illustration above is two rocks facing each other, both looking like smiling...more
This is a very clever, very intriguing, alphabet book. Each letter is represented by a rock in the shape of said letter, and then the corresponding photographic-illustrations are made up of rocks that help explain that word.
For example, there would be a rock shaped like an “F” for “fish” and the next illustration would be of rocks that look like fish.
I found myself constantly amazed and the variety of rock shapes, and how much many of them really looked like the thing they were portraying!
A few...more
For example, there would be a rock shaped like an “F” for “fish” and the next illustration would be of rocks that look like fish.
I found myself constantly amazed and the variety of rock shapes, and how much many of them really looked like the thing they were portraying!
A few...more
What a fantastic find at the library! I think we've all discovered things in nature that remind us of something in our every day lives. I love that this author found rocks on her Florida beach for every letter of the alphabet and something to go with every letter as well! I love books that take time and effort and are evident in the reading. These real rocks aren't just findable in one weekend. My children really loved looking through this and seeing how creative the author was with her rock fin...more
I am so excited to use this book at the beginning of the school year for my Kindergartners. Because it is an alphabet book, I shouldn't wait too long in the year to do this with them, because they will be bored and way passed that identification skill. But I can envision us going on a rock hunt together after we share the book and looking for rocks that remind us of certain letters or words that start with certain letters. I may even begin the rock search myself this summer on some of our RV tri...more
This book is about the alphabet, and rocks that are discovered outside of a beach home. For example "A is for addition" and "B is for bird". Each page has a phrase like that using a letter of the alphabet! This book would be used for elementary students. This book is awesome, because it can help students who may be struggling with letters at a young age. I would implement this in my classroom when I am doing a writing lesson because I feel like it would give kids at a young age more words to use...more
A wonderfully inventive book that uses rocks found on the seashore. The rocks resemble not only letters of the alphabet (the author relates that she had a terrible time finding "K"), but people and objects. T is for Toast--a flat rock that looks very much like a gray version of whole-grain toast.
A unique alphabet book good for older-toddler and preschool storytimes with groups of less than 25 (so children can see the details of the rock). Also great for lapsitters, and for people reading to chil...more
A unique alphabet book good for older-toddler and preschool storytimes with groups of less than 25 (so children can see the details of the rock). Also great for lapsitters, and for people reading to chil...more
This is BRILLIANT!!! Beyond brilliant. Of course, that is coming from a rock collector. I, however, would never have thought to look for shapes and images. This book is beautiful, imaginative, creative, and hilarious--and all because one person spen 10 years looking at the amazing things nature can offer. I knew I wasn't crazy for loving rocks.
An excellent choice for anyone looking for a creative work. A fabulous choice for a child to use their imagination. Best in a lap-read or read-alone so th...more
An excellent choice for anyone looking for a creative work. A fabulous choice for a child to use their imagination. Best in a lap-read or read-alone so th...more
This is such an intriguing premise for an alphabet book! Each alphabet along with the items that the letter stands for are shown in rocks. The rocks were found along a Florida shore and not changed to look this way. It is a book based on finding treasures others overlook and seeing possibilities. The book has a simple layout, allowing the rocks to be the feature here. It begins with A is for Addition with rocks standing in for 1, 8, = and 9. B is for Bird with a very unique bird-shaped rock pose...more
When I realized this was an alphabet book - I wasn't very excited. But who knew the shapes of rocks could be so darn entertaining. My favorite - g is for ghost. Rocks with ghost-like shapes with holes in just the right places was just plain fun. As far as alphabet recognition - this book might not be the right tool. However, I could see kids enjoying painting their names on a rock specially selected for that purpose.
The photographs in this book are so cool! The author managed to find rocks that look like every letter in the alphabet... and a corresponding object to match each letter (for example, a rock that looks like a nose for "N is for nose"). The text isn't terribly exciting (it's a regular alphabet book), but this is a fun one to pore over the pictures... and I think it could inspire kids to look for "found objects" in nature.
"A is for addition"..."g is for ghosts"...."T is for Toast." McGuirk spent over ten years collecting rocks that resemble letters of the alphabet as well as the accompanying objects that comprise her alphabet. While mixing lower and upper case letters would confuse young ones looking to reinforce their letter knowledge, this is a clever and imaginative alphabet book that inspires one's powers of observation.
Love this new alphabet book! Not only did McGuirk find cool rocks that look like the letters, she also found items for each: P is for penguin, and the rock really does look penguin-ish. So cool to pair with "If You Find a Rock" by Peggy Christian, and then to have a center with a bunch of rocks that could be writing prompts - what does it look like to you? - and those pages could be made into a class book.
Another Charlotte fav.
Has a great level of re-readability. Some of the concepts (A is for Addition, C is for Couch Potato, Q is for Question Mark) are a little beyond her, but she loves the pictures, and it's great for building metaphorical thinking.
Some of the rocks look Exactly like what is described, a few you kind of have to stretch...
But what a fun idea.
Has a great level of re-readability. Some of the concepts (A is for Addition, C is for Couch Potato, Q is for Question Mark) are a little beyond her, but she loves the pictures, and it's great for building metaphorical thinking.
Some of the rocks look Exactly like what is described, a few you kind of have to stretch...
But what a fun idea.
"Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others." - Johnathan Swift as quoted by the author on the final page of this ROCKIN' book! A great ABC book with letter-shaped rocks the author found and collected over the course of ten years until she had the complete alphabet. Would make a great spin-off for students to create their own "found" letters book.
Leslie McGuirk spent many years collecting interesting rocks on the Florida coast. The result of those years of searching is If Rocks Could Sing: A Discovered Alphabet.
As this is an alphabet book, each page illustrates some letter from the alphabet. A is for addition, C is for couch potato, N is for nose, S is for seahorse and the like. This book though relies on the found rocks for the letters as well as most of the illustrated items. What's most striking about these photographs is how closely...more
As this is an alphabet book, each page illustrates some letter from the alphabet. A is for addition, C is for couch potato, N is for nose, S is for seahorse and the like. This book though relies on the found rocks for the letters as well as most of the illustrated items. What's most striking about these photographs is how closely...more
This book is fantastic! While some of the words for the letters are a little strange, the shaped rocks are amazing! We read this book no fewer than seven times the first afternoon Mommy brought it out, and lots of times since. LittleJohn is very good at reading it, too. In our copy, J is for "John" (I guess the smiling rocks remind him of mommy & him!)
How long could it take to discover (or even create) variations of rocks that form each letter of the alphabet and the various items that each letter represents? More than ten years, (and the hold out letter was /K/. A one-of-a kind alphabet/concept book that will surely inspire readers to look for letter, number, and object images in every rock they see.
The author of this book has collected rocks in the shape of the alphabet and objects for each letter for over ten years. This book is the result. It’s a clever collection of wonderful wind-and-rain-sculpted rocks depicting a wide variety of objects with little help from non-rocks. It had the children in the library ooh-ing and aah-ing.
As alphabet books go this is a good one to read aloud. It would be fun to have the children guess what the rocks represent and the real rocks used are beautiful and offer a fascinating natural perspective. As with any books that's strictly about the alphabet there are issues with keeping the book interesting for groups.
Creative effort showcasing a work of patience. The author collected rocks over the years, that resembled alphabet letters. She also had rocks to correspond to those letters. Fascinating that nature produces moments of serendipity! Imaginative book to inspire children to look for the unusual in the mundane.
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Leslie McGuirk is the author-illustrator of several books about Tucker the dog, including LUCKY TUCKER, TUCKER'S SPOOKY HALLOWEEN, and HO, HO, HO, TUCKER! She also co-authored and illustrated WIGGENS LEARNS HIS MANNERS AT THE FOUR SEASONS RESTAURANT. She lives in Vero Beach, Florida.
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