Book Review: Not a Stick

Not a Stick
By Antoinette Portis
HarperCollins
9780061123252
$12.99
Grades Pre-K-1
In Stores

*Recommended*

I used to pretend all sorts of stuff when I was little. Fortress out of Construx, plastic bag as parachute, all the standard stuff. I distinctly remember trying out that last one with a leap off the top of the swing set. Needless to say, I didn’t give that a second attempt. Imagination was a big part of my life. With “Not a Stick”, Antoinette Portis follows the pro-imagination blueprint of 2006’s “Not a Box”, creating a worthy follow up.

The book kinda goes like this: an off-camera narrator mentions something about the stick our protagonist (a pig) is holding. When you flip the page, you can see a blue outline of what the little pig sees. With the help of a little imagination the stick turns into a bucking bronco, a fishing pole, and even a paintbrush. Simple? Yes. Effective? You betcha.

“Not a Stick” fills the shoes of its predecessor by sticking to its guns – taking the ordinary and turning it into something special.

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Filed under: *Best New Books*, Reviews