I've been cheating by using old reviews to start off this blog, and thus have not been thinking about what I really want to say. I will need to get into a habit of writing on the blog, but will it be only library related, life related, personal? I tend not to be able to separate the personal from everything else, so it no doubt will creep in. Ah well, here is the last of the "assignment" reviews.
Kevin Henkes’ Words of Stone
Have you ever met someone who is everything you are not? Who seems to be the opposite of you in every single way? Then friendship reveals the inner truth that you are not as different as you might have thought. This is the kind of friendship that unfolds for Blaze and Joselle in Kevin Henkes’ Words of Stone. Henkes’ provides complex characters living real lives and surviving real heartbreak. This story also uses a great deal of imagery with impressive results, fleshing out emotion and letting us see inside the characters heads. Words of Stone is a great coming of age story with important themes of loss, family, friendship, understanding and the importance of forgiveness.
Blaze is a shy, fearful and introverted ten-year-old boy who lost his mother at age five to cancer. He has nightmares that reveal a great deal about his fears and his inability to change the past or save his mother. Blaze goes through life with his invisible friends, a jar of keys and an old Noah’s Ark toy with only one of each animal that represents much more to him than he lets on. He avoids talking with his father about his grief because he cannot bear to make him sad. Although liked by everyone, he has no close friends. He fears fire, the dark, wasps and nightmares. He wants to control his fear desperately; he wants to take charge of his life but does not know how.
Joselle is an outgoing, seemingly fearless girl that appears to be everything Blaze is not. She loves playing music on her “big” front teeth, and freely expresses emotions. However, she has loss as well. Her mother has been more of a friend than a parent throughout her life and she does not have any knowledge of her father. The emotions she freely expresses tend to be anger because she cannot quite handle the loss in her life. She seeks to complicate Blaze’s life, because, as her grandmother says, “Misery loves company” (37). However, she also learns that she has more to give, such as helping Blaze get to know Gary, the “terrifying” German Shepherd next door.
When Blaze first sees the words of stone on the hill facing his room in the early morning light he tells no one and rearranges them so his father cannot see…or so he does not have to admit it may only be in his head. Between the mystery of the stones, his father’s new girlfriend and Joselle, he barely has time to think. Pain comes crashing down on both Joselle and Blaze in this book. Both are betrayed by the people they trust and both must come to a place where they choose to move ahead, to forgive and to try again. Blaze and Joselle learn from one-another and become more complete people because of their friendship and their trials. Real relationships take work and forgiveness, they can be tenuous but they can also free you from your fears and your chains.
Henkes is most famous for his children’s picture books: Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse, Chrysanthemum, Kitten’s First Full Moon. While his illustrations are necessary to that work, he also uses a great deal of literary imagery to push the emotions in Words of Stone. The first word of stones on the hill spell Blaze’s mother’s name “Reena”.
“Squinting, Blaze leaned on the windowsill, his nose pressed to the screen, then pulled back. The word was still there. It seemed to fill the window. The window seemed to fill the room. Blaze was smaller than ever.” (13)
Joselle writes words on her leg, at first for fun and then to remind herself of what she must atone. Blaze has vivid dreams related to his fears and perceived failures. Henkes begins with the images: snakes, keyholes, and fire, and proceeds to unveil little by little what these images mean. There are the stones around the tree that represent the “death” of Blaze’s invisible friends married with the stones on the hill spelling his secrets. Glenn, Blaze’s father, is an artist and it becomes clear that Blaze is one as well. The act of creating art is portrayed as cathartic for Glenn. Blaze is as timid with his art as he is with his life, and the story mirrors his progress as an artist, as well as painting another picture of what Blaze values and needs.
Words of Stone is identified for ages 8 and up. Children will identify with the story and the honestly depicted characters who are dealing with things many children will just be beginning to come to terms with. It is a strong tale of becoming as well as of what friendship requires. This book would be a good read-a-loud in the classroom and could lead to great discussions about life and friendship. The book also deftly discusses the emotions children have when dealing with very serious loss: the death of a parent or the abandonment by one. This book can be a safe place to begin for a child dealing with such issues and they will find confidants in Blaze and Joselle
Cover image and quotations from:
Henkes, Kevin. Words of Stone. New York: Harper Trophy, 2005. Print.
