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24th out of 50 books
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The Wretched Stone
In a story recounted through the daily log of Captain Allan Hope, the sailors aboard the Rita Anne become mesmerized and transformed by a mysterious glowing rock, and only music and books can restore them to normal.
Hardcover, 32 pages
Published
October 28th 1991
by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
(first published January 1st 1991)
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Sue Leatherman
rated it
Chris Van Allsburg has given us a sailor's tale in The Wretched Stone. What seems to be an ordinary voyage turns out to be mysterious, dangerous, and almost mystical! Captain Randall Ethan Hope records these extraordinary and even bizarre experiences in the ship's log. What is this strange glowing stone that has been brought aboard the ship? Why has the crew seemed to "disappear " from the ship's decks? What does Captain Hope do to save his crew?
This is definitely a boo...more
This is definitely a boo...more
The Wretched Stone by Chris Van Allsburg sort of has the same theme going on when comparing it to “The Stranger”. His stories are definitely different than the average picture book. I do enjoy that Allsburg isn’t afraid to write such diverse stories when it comes to writing about fantasy and where our imagination as readers can take us. I thought it was interesting that he picked a rock to have such power to change the ship crew into monkeys. By looking at the pictures the monkeys looked scary a...more
This book depicts the importance of having the knowledge to read. In a short story the author, Chris Van Allsburg, tells of a ship’s crew and how the love for reading and music playing is taken away once they take hold of mysterious stone found on an uncharted island. The ship’s captain is the only on unaffected by the stone’s magic and no matter what he does to save his men as they start turning into apes nothing works even as danger approaches. The fact that they turn into apes once not knowin...more
Instead of reading another black and white story written and illustrated by Van Allsburg I decided to choose this one because of its vibrant colors. Although the illustrations are framed with a small, white border, the images seem to fill the entire space of that frame. The text is framed on top of the illustrations instead of having a separate page devoted to just the text. The text is written as log entries with dates and the color of the text is black on a white background. The text is from t...more
Wow. This is a very strange story, but strange in an altogether positive way. Though working with the full spectrum of color in his artwork instead of sticking to his traditional black-and-white palate, Chris Van Allsburg has retained the intangible element of darkness that always somehow permeates his drawings. The story of the sailing crew that finds the title stone is an eerie one, frightening at times, and Chris Van Allsburg makes it all very real by the dimensional quality of his illustrat...more
Hilary Yastrum
added it
I think this book was a good read! I liked that the Captain of the boat was the narrator of the story and he wrote the story in letters. Each page had a letter and a date corresponding to it. I also liked how the book focused on a mysterious rock that captivated the crew and made them turn into monkeys! When I first read this book I was confused by what the rock was representing, but by reading it again I understood that the rock could represent some type of media or substance that takes away fr...more
In a story recounted through the daily log of Captain Allan Hope, the sailors aboard the Rita Anne become mesmerized & transformed by a mysterious glowing rock, & only music & books can restore them to normal. "As always, Van Allsburg's paintings are magnificent. Cool, clear colors, boldly executed, & unusual perspective accentuate the story's mystery." -- Booklist (Goodread's Summary)
In The Wretched Stone, Van Allsburg creates a colorful and evocative story with a message....more
In The Wretched Stone, Van Allsburg creates a colorful and evocative story with a message....more
Van Allsburrg’s “The Wretched Stone ” is an interesting story. I like how it is written and formatted like a Captain’s log it helped me get into the story of this strange sailing trip. The pictures are beautiful and full bleed spanning two whole pages. This is good since it enhances what is being said in the logs. I can’t help but think that this story is a kind of metaphor, comparing the glowing stone the sea voyagers watch to something else that glows that people today spend a lot of time watc...more
Summary:In a story recounted through the daily log of Captain Allan Hope, the sailors aboard the Rita Anne become mesmerized and transformed by a mysterious glowing rock, and only music and books can restore them to normal.
Genre: mystery, legend, fiction
Reading Level: The level of this book is clearly fluent because there are multiple paragraphs on each page with smaller font and little space between the letters. There are complex sentences and a variety of words. There are difficult...more
Genre: mystery, legend, fiction
Reading Level: The level of this book is clearly fluent because there are multiple paragraphs on each page with smaller font and little space between the letters. There are complex sentences and a variety of words. There are difficult...more
I love this book! The pictures are to die for and the story being told through excerpts from a diary give the whole thing an extra dose of mystery and an underlying sense of 'not-quite-right'ness.
What I really love about the story is how the transformed men of the ship are saved by being read to..and how the 'wretched stone' (which you never actually see, but always sense it's presence by it's 'light') reminds me of the hypnotizing quality of computers for kids. Oh so subtly done t...more
What I really love about the story is how the transformed men of the ship are saved by being read to..and how the 'wretched stone' (which you never actually see, but always sense it's presence by it's 'light') reminds me of the hypnotizing quality of computers for kids. Oh so subtly done t...more
Anna Groves
added it
Chris Van Allsburg is very diverse when it comes to his picture books, you can tell that he loves writing about fantasy and he is not afraid to step out of the box. In the "Wretched Stone", he picked a rock to be possessed, that used to be a human. But my favorite part was when some of the crew members started "liking" the banana. Through out the story you can definitely sense the emotion that comes from scene when the crew is in danger. but of course there is a happy and fu...more
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The Wretched Stone left me feeling kind of odd. The writing itself was quite direct, written as excerpts from a captain's journal while aboard the ship, Rita Anne. The merry crew came across an uncharted island where they found an object that would change them. Fortunately, the crew returns to its previous form with the aid of reading and music-making. The illustrations decked out most of the pages, and were a great help in understanding the story. However, the intended message, if any, was sadl...more
The Wretched Stone is in a portrait layout. The illustrations are realistic and the colors set the mood of each page. The illustrations enhance the text and add to its meaning. The book takes place on a ship and the view is as if you are on the ship with the rest of the crew. There are borders around each page, but the illustrations continue throughout the spread. This is called breaking the frame, which brings excitement to the story. This can be so the reader isn't fully submersed in the illus...more
I liked how this book was written. Instead of being told from a narratives stand point it is being told from excerpts out of a ships captain's journal. The captain describes the crew and the ship along with the journey. During the journey the captain sees the crew has brought a mysterious glowing rock on the ship. And this rock eventually ends up turning the crew into apes on day during a bad storm. The captain has to play music to bring his crew back to normal until they are rescued. And then t...more
The book was a pleasant read. I enjoyed the fact that it was written from a journal perspective and I feel like it gave me more insight on the captains thoughts. It was entertaining to see the crew turn into monkeys. But I found it extremely interesting how the Captain Hope was able to bring them back through reading and playing violin. To me that was the moral of the story. Anyone can learn and be cultured, even if they are as barbaric as apes. I found funny how at the end of the story, the cre...more
This was an average book for children. It was written through the viewpoint of Captain Allan Hope's daily journal. Presenting it in this way was very unique and made the experience much more exciting and interesting for readers. The illustrations were very good. These very much helped the reader get a better picture of what the author was trying to portray. The story itself was somewhat entertaining but nothing more than just a simple story. There was no deeper message that inspired childr...more
The story had unexpected and interesting events; the rock magically turned his sailing crew into monkeys, what they really liked to do which was read and play musical instruments was what saved them, and in the end some seemed to have an unnatural appetite for the fruit there, which were bananas. It has full bleed pages but it has text in the middle of the pictures and the text is surrounded my a white border. The text in the book are from a journal. It looks like they just cut off pages from th...more
This book is a great conversation starter for adults and children. One could argue that it brings up the classic TV and video games versus reading debate. In this book a group of sailors on a long journey find a stone and become obsessed with it. The author, Van Allsburg, deliberately writes that the sailors who can read recover the quickest. The narrator who can read and play the violin is the only one who does not turn into an ape. He is also the only person who’s face the reader is able ...more
This isn't my favorite Van Allsburg book. This is a color-illustrated book that has the artist out of his sculpture images. I do not think these work as well.
I am also not as fond of the text as other tales. Told as a captain's journal, we learn that the crew found a large stone that illuminates. The glow captures the crew and renders them shiftless and beastly. It isn't until after a storm that it glows dim and is covered. Eventually, the crew returns to normal.
I r...more
I am also not as fond of the text as other tales. Told as a captain's journal, we learn that the crew found a large stone that illuminates. The glow captures the crew and renders them shiftless and beastly. It isn't until after a storm that it glows dim and is covered. Eventually, the crew returns to normal.
I r...more
I did not particularly care for The Wretched Stone, however, I do think it gives a lesson that is important. At the beginning of the book, the men abroad the Rita Anne are joyful and content, many of them reading, telling stories, or being musical. This shows what joys being literate offers. After the rock comes aboard the ship, the men quit being literate and are transformed into beasts. The are illustrated as monkeys (something I found quite creepy). After much turmoil, the men return to norma...more
This book is a very enjoyable read, and I would recommend it heavily for students who are in 5th or 6th grade. This book really shines in its illustrations which are heavily detailed and unique. I enjoyed this story because it was surreal without being extreme; the transformation of the sailors to apes was stated in such of a matter of fact way, whereas many children's stories that I have read would have displayed the same scenario in a ridiculous fashion. Overall, this was, in my limited experi...more
The illustrations are magical, full of the beauty and deliberate detail typical of Van Allsburg. Also typical of Van Allsburg is the quirky, magical story. I like the presentation of the story, written as a ship's log. It made for some good interest and suspense. As I read the story, I began making comparisons between the stone and television, and I think the story could be seen as a metaphor warning readers of the dangers of too much TV. It rots the brain, you know. But those who know how to re...more
Unless there is some strange cult out there that seeks to unlock life’s mysteries through meditations on “The Mysteries of Harris Burdick” (and really, there might be), nowhere on earth does Grand Rapids native Chris Van Allsburg receive more love than in the Southwest region of the mitten state. How do I know? Well, it’s where I live and work as a school librarian. The wonderful Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM) recently wrapped up an exhibit of Mr. V.A.’s drawings and I stopped by for a look. Ama...more
This story is written like a diary. The pages have a clear and noticable border throughout the book. The illustrations on each page connect so it looks like one big picture. It is very precise and detailed, with big and bright pictures. The story is good, but I think children will definitely be more interested in the pictures, rather than the text. I do find it very clever when the men start acting funny in the text, his illustrations of the men become monkeys!
First off the illustration in the book is amazing and detailed. With great pictures covering every page. Another thing that I liked was the author made the book as if it were a diary logging in dates and occurrences. The mystery behind the stone still has me questioning what it was. But I believe it has to do with us as people. The stone probably represents technology such as television and computers and how it lures us away from reading and story telling.
A crew finds an island and a strange stone that glows and they bring it back on their ship. Everyone but the captain stares at this stone all the time and they all eventually turn into apes. The stone stops glowing and the captain reads to them and talks to them then they eventually turn back into humans. They cover the stone up so that it doesn't happen again. You could use this book to talk about fantasy with children.
In this book, I really like the uniqueness of the journal-type entries used for the text. I think it is a cool approach, much different from most children books. I like how the pictures encompass most the page, and there is a white bow left in each illustration for the journal entry text. I like how the text shows correct, professional grammar, but still has a target audience for children. Great illustrations, very soft.
It's very strange voyage story. One day, sailers found an island which is not in map and they found and brought misterious stone into thier ship. It was the start of lots of strange things....
This book had attracted me because I was always thinking about 'what will happen next' while I was reading. It is intersting story, but I had to read it with squeamish reluctance. However, It's an advantage generally I think.
This book had attracted me because I was always thinking about 'what will happen next' while I was reading. It is intersting story, but I had to read it with squeamish reluctance. However, It's an advantage generally I think.
This honestly was not my favorite book. I felt like the illustrations were great, but the story was weird. It didn't hold my attention very well, although it did have a good message that technology isn't everything. It was a longer book, which I didn't think fit this story that well. The story was kind of written in a diary like format which I thought was pretty unique for a children's book.
you may not know this but this book has a secret message hiddden in it. think about kids,electronics,we all turn into apes,it is about us kids and how we lose the interest in things like reading,singing,dancing and just plain getting active. oh well they think what they want but we do homework and chores and have they heard of wii???? you have to get active to play,you just cannot sit there.
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Chris was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on June 18th, 1949, the second child of Doris Christiansen Van Allsburg and Richard Van Allsburg. His sister Karen was born in 1947.
Chris’s paternal grandfather, Peter, owned and operated a creamery, a place where milk was turned into butter, cream, cottage cheese, and ice cream. It was named East End Creamery and after they bottled the milk (a...more
More about Chris Van Allsburg...
Chris’s paternal grandfather, Peter, owned and operated a creamery, a place where milk was turned into butter, cream, cottage cheese, and ice cream. It was named East End Creamery and after they bottled the milk (a...more
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