Tag Archives: everybody needs a rock

everybody needs a rock/pebbles as art

10.14.2013

Everybody Needs a Rock by Byrd Baylor, pictures by Peter Parnall (1974). Oh, this book. It’s a desert book. About rocks. Illustrated in black and white and brown. This is what the first page says:

“Everybody

needs

a rock.

I’m sorry for kids

who don’t have

a rock

for a friend.

I’m sorry for kids

who only have

TRICYCLES

BICYCLES

HORSES

ELEPHANTS

GOLDFISH

THREE-ROOM PLAYHOUSES

FIRE ENGINES

WIND-UP DRAGONS

AND THINGS LIKE THAT —

if

they don’t have

a

rock

for a friend.”

After that, Byrd Baylor‘s narrator tells you how to find a special rock via ten rules. The rock that’s just right. “There aren’t many things that feel as good as a rock—if the rock is perfect.”

It’s funny how special rocks can be. If you’re the one who found it. If you’re the one to keep it in your pocket or on your desk. If it’s your rock to skip over the water.

/ / / / / / /

I have two special rocks in my possession. They sit on the windowsill above my desk . They were given to me by my husband last year for Valentine’s Day. I know, right? Can’t beat fossils as tokens of love. The one up there is millions of years old. It’s smooth on top. Its swirls are full of colored crystals. It reminds me of ancient and enduring things. The one below is marvelous. It glimmers in the light. It’s rough and made of cylinders. They kind of shoot out from the center in pink and silver beams.

rock

The following aren’t exactly plain old found rocks. But they’re inspired by rocks for sure. They take something earthy and grounding and bring it to life in a new way. The only time I’ve been surrounded by rocks was on my visit to Sedona, Arizona, a magical place. So I can see how being surrounded by rocks indoors would be a pretty great alternative. Remember your pebble right?