#298 of 1001 · May 25, 2021

How does the thought strike you that, despite our amassing of information, we can never truly know every inch of the world? Some may find it comforting to believe that there will always be another adventure waiting around the corner for those who look hard enough. Others might consider it ominous to think about the unknown phenomena eluding our ken. Both camps may find pleasure in the eerie twists and turns of The Wretched Stone by Chris Van Allsburg. Captain Hope and the crew of the merchant vessel Rita Anne dock at an uncharted island, where they discover a mysterious rock set with a smooth glass panel that gives off an unearthly light. After bringing the item aboard the ship, the men develop a fascination with it and begin visiting it below deck every day. Perturbed by the sailors’ mounting obsession with the glowing stone, the captain resolves to throw it overboard, but the crew locks him out of the hold. The true effect of the paranormal artifact cannot be explained...but can it be reversed? Van Allsburg makes a distinctive storytelling choice by setting the narrative in the format of an epistolary novel, the text consisting entirely of the captain’s entries in the ship’s log. His illustrations view the characters from odd angles and distant perspectives, until the climax, when the insidious transformation of the crew is revealed in a moment of surreal horror. Any intent on Van Allsburg’s part to construct a deliberate metaphor for the hypnotic effect of a glowing screen upon suggestible masses can only be inferred. #stone #rock #glow #glowing #captain #sailor #ship #ocean #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbooks #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks