STICK!

STICK! by Andy Pritchett is a fun book for any dog lover, puppy owner, and/or emergent learner. Puppy loves sticks.  He also wants a friend to play stick with.  He goes on a journey to find a friend to play with. The first friend he encounters is a cow who wants to play with grass.  This doesn't make much sense. Would a cow play with grass?  Then he wants to play with a bird but the bird wants to play with a worm. I think these new friends are confused.  It appears the cow, bird and others Puppy tries to play with don't understand he wants to play and not eat.  Until, he encounters a friend who does know how to play and together they show animals that wouldn't play with a stick, how to play with a stick.

I love the solid background and clear illustrations done in pencil and digital coloring.  The text is one word per page in a speech bubble and punctuation makes this book exciting.  The text makes this an easily accessible book for any beginning reader and offers older readers perspective on point of view.  I love the note within the dedication.  "For my mum.  You always told me "to keep on trying."  At least, that's what I thought you said..."