A Stick is an Excellent Thing

Published 2012 by Thomas Allen.

ISBN:
978-0-547-12493-3
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2 stars (1 review)

It's a book about poems that celebrate playing outdoors.

3 editions

Simple but Not Fun

2 stars

I read this with one of my students, and both of us found it a bit boring. That's about all I can say for the book. Neither of us really enjoyed it. It was just... something we had to read.

But finding the following sentence in its marketing descriptions has made me find it more obnoxious:

At a time when childhood obesity rates are soaring and money is tight for many families, here is a book that invites readers to join in the fun of active play with games that cost nothing.

I would not support books that use fatphobia to try to sell themselves, so download (and print) it if you want to read it. The author or illustrator (or both) should also be working against this, as "outdoor play" is not a solution to childhood obesity... But a whole range of other things that are not individual solutions …