THE BLUE STONE

From the artist who brought us The Sound of Colors (2006) comes a book by turns haunting and beautiful. When a blue stone that lies at the heart of a forest is split into two, one half is taken away. The piece that leaves yearns to return to the forest but instead finds itself transformed over and over, carved into an elephant, a bird, a fish, and a moon. Over the years, it crumbles a little when it thinks of home, and it is turned into smaller and smaller objects like a juggling ball or a heart on a necklace. Finally, when the stone is nothing but dust, it blows across the ocean back to the forest where it is reunited with its other half. There is a meditative simplicity and sweet sadness to Liao’s imagery. At 80 pages it defies normal categorization, but the text never overstays its welcome. An effective allegory for any person who has ever longed for home, however they choose to define it, although perhaps too remote in its metaphor for many children. (Picture book. 5-10)