Nye, Sand and Stones

K-Gr 3--"Somewhere off the coast and around the corner were two islands that had existed alongside each other for as long as forever. One island was made mostly of stones, the other mainly of sand, and that's where the problem began." So begins this charming story about injustice and standing up to question what has always been. As a young child, Nye, who lives among the other orange people on the Island of Sand, begins to ask why every day their beautiful sand castles are destroyed by catapulted stones from the neighboring Island of Stones. The people there are yellow, sort of angular, and robotlike, and they love hurling stones, but no one seems to know how it started. Everyone around Nye accepts that this is just how it is. When Nye sees the effect of this destruction on her small sibling's emotional state, enough is enough. Nye challenges the people of the Island of Stones to use their rocks and efforts to make things better rather than destroy things. Listeners and readers will be inspired to question aspects of their own lives, and will love the tale of two groups of different people finding a way to live harmoniously. VERDICT Discussions about injustice will be the perfect segue for this book in story hours. It will appeal to a wide arrange of grade levels, and makes a strong addition to most collections.--Betsy Davison, formerly at Homer Central H.S., NY