THE BLUE PEBBLE

Discovering an unusual blue pebble, Oli keeps it, certain it will be useful.

Finding the blue pebble under a daisy, Oli carries it into the forest, where a wild boar asks what the pebble is for. Oli responds he doesn’t know, but he’s sure he will discover a use for it someday. The boar advises him to discard the useless pebble and instead to gather practical acorns and roots. Hugging the pebble to his chest, Oli next encounters a wolf who also questions what the pebble is for and suggests replacing the pebble with a useful stone to sharpen a stick. Moving on, Oli meets three giggling elves playing marbles who ask about the pebble and recommend Oli jettison it in favor of marble-shaped pebbles. Oli continues on until he finds a crying girl who has the perfect use for his blue pebble. Throughout the repetitive, inquisitive text, Oli remains curiously immutable. Delicate illustrations rendered in fluid stokes and muted colors reveal Oli to be a diminutive, pale-skinned, elfin boy, physically dwarfed by daisies but undaunted by the hulking boar, fanged wolf, and silly elves. Observed from multiple perspectives, he doggedly progresses across the pages through an indeterminate outdoor landscape, hugging the blue pebble to eventually prove that it indeed has its use.

A whimsical, slightly perplexing fantasy with an intriguing little hero.