A stone for Sasha

For most of our readers, Aaron Becker is a familiar name. His silent books has recieved a lot of praise and attention, especially his "Journey"-triology that also won him a prestigious Caldecott Medal. In "A stone for Sascha" he uses his unique storytelling skills to explore questions of grief and healing from an unexpected perspective. At the back flap, Becker asks the question: "Can we learn from a polished tone? Can we find comfort in stories that are older than our own?" 

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"A stone for Sascha" opens with the burial of a beloved family dog. There is a striking picture where the girl in the book sits, bent over the dog´s grave - a tiny figure on a large, white page, showing us how grief and sorrow makes us feel powerless and small. We see the family going camping. At the campsite the girl sees another family playing with their dog while sitting on the beach. She stands up and throws a stone in the water. So far, this is a realistic story about loss and the feelings connected to it.

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But when the stone falls into the ocean, we are thrown back to the beginning of times. To cosmos,dinosaurs and cavemen. We see the invention of the wheel, the building of cities, the rise and fall of bridges... Becker takes us on a historical parade through the centuries and continents, with so many different costumes and architectural stylles to be found. There is a golden object in all the pictures, and it´s being turned into all kinds of different things, until it finally lands on the bottom of the ocean. By the magic of the waves and time, it turns into a polished, shimmering stone that the girl finds in the water. On one of the last pictures, a gorgeous full spread, we see the girl finding comfort in the stone, a stone that has excisted since the beginning of humankind, a symbol of the interconnectedness of cosmos, humans, animals and Earth.

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Becker is a truly gifted illustrator and artist. In this book, I was impressed by how he changes his technique to fit the story. The delicate watercolors of the "Journey"-triology are replaced by powerful,dreamlike illustrations that are digitally manipulated. From the moment the stone hits the water the story gets very dramatic, which is unusual in a children´s book about loss and sorrow that tend to be more subuded. The illustrations show not only the passing of times, but also how dogs have accompanied humans in almost all civilazations, and how that connects us to each other, to animals and to history. 

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Becker takes full control of his storytelling by alternating not only full spreads, panels, one-page pictures, but also what pictures are framed and what pictures are full-bleed. This gives the reader a rythm to the complex stories that are to be found in the book. Each spread is filled with references to history, art and cultures, and open for so many different interpretations.

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As with all picturebooks that have a paper cover, make sure to look underneath it! The left flap of the paper cover has an introductory text telling us that a dog named Sascha has died. But the hardcover underneath shows us a single picture, a small golden dog tag on a blue background. The tag is engraved "Sascha", and we see it has been taken of the collar.  When we open the book and look at the title page, we see a framed picture of a girl and her dog. This tells us, in a much more elegant way than the words, all we need to understand about what happens next.
 

The publishers recommend this book for 5-8 year olds. I don´t fully agree with that recommendation. "A stone for Sascha" is an amazing silent book, but it is not for beginners. Both the stories and the illustrations require a lot of interpretation, and most 5-year olds will not have the references needed, nor the visual literacy to navigate it. I would set the recommendation for 7-8 years and up, including teenagers and adults. At the endpapers, Becker has drawn a historical map of all the civilizations we meet in the story. For older children, this will add value to the book and make a great starting point for conversations about the evolution of humankind.

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The publishers have matched Becker´s art with a beautiful binding, nice paper quality and a format large enought to enjoy all the exciting details that are to be found. "A stone for Sascha" is a beautiful and original take on experiencing loss and finding comfort in our shared history.

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Reviews of all Aaron Becker´s silent books are coming up, so please stay tuned!

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