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    The Children's Book Review

    The Blue Pebble, by Anne-Gaëlle Balpe | Book Review

    Rebecca EisenbergBy Rebecca Eisenberg4 Mins Read Ages 4-8 Ages 9-12 Best Kids Stories Picture Books
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    The Children’s Book Review | July 17, 2019

    The Blue PebbleThe Blue Pebble

    Written by Anne-Gaëlle Balpe

    Illustrated by Eve Tharlet

    Age Range: 4-9

    Hardcover: 32 pages

    Publisher: minedition (May 1, 2019)

    ISBN-13: 978-9888341757

    What to Expect: Life Lessons and Sentimental Value

    The Blue Pebble is a beautiful and thoughtful picture book that should be viewed as a treasure. There is a magical aura to this book that can’t be explained with words.

    The tale begins with Oli, a transcendent character who finds a strange blue pebble underneath a daisy. He is enamored by the pebble’s unique blue color and texture. Holding onto it tightly, he walks through the forest where he meets many friends; including a wild boar, a wolf, and elves. With each interaction, Oli is discouraged from keeping the blue pebble. The boar tells Oli, “It’s a waste of time carrying it around. Throw it away and start collecting roots and acorns for winter.” The wolf tells Oli, “Don’t waste time carrying it around. Throw it away and look for a good stone you can use to sharpen a stick.” The elves tease Oli for keeping the blue pebble. Each time he is told to throw away his pebble, Oli becomes determined to find a use for it because he believes it is special.

    As Oli continues his walk through the forest, still holding his pebble, he meets a young girl who is sitting on a large rock sobbing. When Oli asks the girl “What’s the matter?” she replies with a gesture towards her doll that is missing an eye. “Everyone says I should throw it away.” Oli looks pensively at the doll and realizes that the pebble he is holding will fit perfectly into the eye socket. When the doll has both of her beautiful eyes again, the girl is delighted and thankful for Oli’s help and generosity. For a pensive finale, Oli then picks up a thread he has found and goes on his way as he says goodbye to the girl.

    The Blue Pebble offers many valuable lessons: believing in yourself, helping others, and listening to your intuition—Oli never gave up on his instincts, even when others told him to discard the pebble. This story is a sweet reminder about the value of keeping small and sentimental treasures that may not have financial value or appear to have a specific purpose. As parents, many of us want to clear out items from our kids’ rooms and pockets in order to “organize” and “clean up”. While reading aloud to youngsters, this book will likely have adult readers pausing to think about the special treasures that their children may want to hold onto … just like Oli and his blue pebble.

    Timeless, wonderful, and a true gem of a book,The Blue Pebble is destined to be treasured for a long time! Ideal for kids ages 4-9, it would make a fantastical addition to any home or school library. It will always have a place on my bookshelf!

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    About the Author

    Anne-Gaëlle Balpe lives and works in Paris. Writing novels is her passion and the books which fascinated her as a child are still her companions. She wishes to bring such fascination she experienced to children through her own stories. Eve Tharlet studied art in Strasbourg, and is the illustrator of A Promise is a Promise, Mr. Hollyberry’s Christmas Gift, Mr. Hollyberry’s Christmas Gift, Sweet Dreams Bruno, Will You Still Love Me, If . . . ?, Here She Is!, and Too Big, Too Small from minedition.

    The Blue Pebble, written by Anne-Gaëlle Balpe and illustrated by Eve Tharlett, was reviewed by Rebecca Eisenberg. Discover more books like The Blue Pebble by following along with our reviews and articles tagged with Life Lessons and Picture Book.

    What to Read Next:

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    3. Inside the Studio with Shawn Harris, Illustrator of Her Right Foot
    4. Inside the Studio with David Litchfield, Illustrator of When Paul Met Artie: The Story of Simon & Garfunkel

    *Disclosure: Please note that this post may contain affiliate links that share some commission. Rest assured that these will not affect the cost of any products and services promoted here. Our team always provides their authentic opinion in all content published on this site.

    Anne-Gaëlle Balpe Eve Tharlet Life Lessons minedition Picture Book
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    Rebecca Eisenberg
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    Rebecca Eisenberg, MS, CCC-SLP is a certified speech language pathologist, certified autism specialist, author, instructor and parent of two children. She has been practicing in the field of speech language pathology since 2001 and works with children with special needs in a variety of settings including preschools, elementary schools and outpatient clinics. She has multiple games and a workbook published by Super Duper Publications. She is also the co-author of the children books titled, The Monkey Balloon and the sequel, A Tale of The Monkey Balloon which was released February 6th, 2018. She also published an e-book for parents titled, Improve Your Child’s Language and Learning in 20 minutes. Rebecca has always loved and treasured children’s books, specifically those that embed a meaningful lesson in the story. Her passion lies in finding those moments to connect with children through storytelling. Rebecca began her blog http://www.languageduringmealtime to create a resource for parents to help make mealtime an enriched learning experience with children’s literature.

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