Review by Booklist Review
Out for a walk with his dog, a boy finds a stick, which he throws to his dog, taps on logs, swishes through fields of grain, and so on. Finally dropping it from a bridge into the water below, he watches it float downstream toward a girl. She uses it to complete the conical hut she's building, a framework of sticks draped with cloth, and the boy and his dog join her inside the cozy hideout. The book's large, square format heightens the clarity and simplicity of the images, but simple doesn't mean plain. While the mixed-media illustrations are built on areas of solid colors, Dickson uses rough, crayon-like lines and textured areas of brown, black, gray, white, and red to define and shape elements such as the zipper on the boy's jacket, the curved shapes of logs, and the characters' shadows. Each spacious double-page spread offers a few words of text paired with well-composed scenes designed for young children to enjoy. Just right for early childhood and preschool teachers seeking picture books for reading aloud.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Horn Book Review
Engaging full-bleed illustrations shore up a spare, low-tension text to show what a boy and his dog do with a stick: "throw it," "balance with it," "swish it," "stir with it," and so on. The boy drops the stick from a bridge, and it floats downstream to a little girl. She uses the "very useful stick" in a tent she's building, and the two (plus pup) play together. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
What can a kid do with a stick?A little unnamed child takes a country walk (with no adults in sight) with a frisky dog and discovers a long stick. The child wears a bright red jacket and green gumboots. The mixed-media illustrations have a bold, retro look, with an idealized feel that's reminiscent of the Dick and Jane era. There is a particularly glorious double-page spread of child and dog traveling through a golden wheat field with red poppies and purple thistles. The few words in large type in every spread always refer to the stick: "Find a stick, a very useful stick"; "Swish it"; "Draw with it." A bit of drama is added when child and dog are on a bridge over a stream and the stick fallsto float. This scene opens up to include another child in the distance, creating a shelter from several sticks and a piece of cloth. When the stick reaches the shore, this new child picks it up along with some others. The sparse text satisfyingly echoes the beginning on the final page, as both children put those "very useful sticks" to use in building a play structure. The first child has short brown hair and pale skin; the second child has brown skin and black hair in Afro-puffs.A simple tale of play with a found object combined with a story of new friendship, immediately retellable by a single child or a group. (Picture book. 3-5) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
