Rick the Rock of Room 214

Julie Falatko and Ruth Chan team up in their sophomore picture book collaboration in this gently amusing story of a good-natured and naive classroom rock who discovers his taste for adventure isn't quite as dramatic and explosive as he believes it to be. Readers first see Rick with no distinguishing characteristics aside from a generous spatter of teal paint flying off the tip of a paintbrush from an enthusiastic young student and a gold star sticker. He sits on the Nature Finds shelf with his fellow nature ambassadors: an acorn, a clump of moss, and a piece of tree bark proposed up by two Q-tips.

Below him, a busy scene of students drawing, writing stories, and reading (a book on mining, no less) contrast with the following double spread which emphasizes the static existence of the Nature Finds.

Rick's quiet days come to an abrupt halt when the teacher, who sports a bow tie and a t-shirt that says "Rocks Rock", begins a new unit on rocks (p. 5). Rocks, he declares, are a mix of mineral matter, and they are strong because they hold up the world. The teacher explains the three types of rocks while a video presentation on a large screen mesmerizes students with the drama of several geologic processes: volcanic eruptions, rocks tumbling down mountainsides, "powerful rocks, having adventures and confronting danger outside," as Rick sees it (p. 6). Would it be his turn next?

Rick's friends are quick to quell Rick's fantasies. “There's enough excitement right here on the shelf," offers the acorn (p. 7) while the bark reminds Rick that, at Nature Finds, "Our job is to sit here, on this shelf” (p. 8). Rick, however, must act on his compulsion to follow in the footsteps of his "outdoor cousins" who form outcroppings, hang off crags, and jut out of waterways (p. 9). Ready for adventure, Rick seizes an opportune moment when a wayward arm of a child jostles the Nature Finds shelf and he tumbles into the open backpack of another student. When that student places their pack on a picnic table outside with its zipper open, Rick falls '"from a great height" and "poses majestically" in the grass (pp. 13-14).

Amazed by all the clouds, sunshine, and open space, Rick exclaims, "A rock can really be a rock out here" (p. 15). What he doesn't expect is to hear a "Shhhh" nearby--from a fellow rock! In the next spread, graphic novel panels show a variety of rocks in the field, all of them with, well, granite-like features that speak volumes for their stoic, craggy-browed grumpiness. Through speech bubble dialogue, one rock rebuffs Rick's enthusiastic introduction. "Rocks don't have names," the rock grumbles out of the corner of his mouth (p. 17). Rick's goodly-eyed excitement to find out when they "explode out of volcanos" elicits further frowns and quizzical glances from his new neighbours (p. 18). They offer blunt explanations for their preferred lifestyle: "No one explodes here. We already exploded. Other times. We're done with that now” (p. 19). Rick's new rock social circle disabuse him of that notion that geologic eruptions are adventures: Being exploded was "horribly dangerous" because "Some of us broke into bits, never to be seen again” (p. 19). Their chief joy now is to sit quietly, just like Rick did on the Nature Finds shelf back in Room 214.

The next double spread of Rick's new environs reveals various rocks in repose: one enjoys a ladybug perched on its head, another lies musing upside down; others exude beetle-browed dourness. These comical depictions of rocks show emotions that vary from zen contentment, to melancholy to disgruntlement. Rick is stunned into silence, his bright star sticker the only bright thing about him now. Turning the page shows the reader Rick's internal monologue again in four large graphic novel panels as a thunderstorm further dampens his mood. Despite his new mantra that he is strong because he holds up the world, Rick can't help but feel lonely in the mud.

Joy comes in the morning, however, and Rick's fortunes take a turn for the better when a student from Room 214 discovers him lying in the mud. It's the same student who, in previous illustrations, has been shown deeply engrossed by "An Intro to Mining," "Essentials of Geology," and "Power to the Pebble". She invites Rick back inside because the whole class misses him. Rick’s grateful, almost teary “Yes” thought bubble endears readers further to him as we cheer on his return home to Room 214.

Rick, now smelling like dirt and coated with the mud of his escapade, answers the bark's question as to whether it was dangerous out there in the world: "I was in horrible danger...of being lonely," says Rick. "So I came back” (p. 28 & p. 30). The reunited Nature Finds are now happy together, bedecked with paper crowns, feathers, and more stickers. They help "students with math and snacks, songs and stories." Sitting is just right for Rick, and he sees “every day [as] an adventure” (pp. 31-32).

Rick's open-hearted naivete and longing for adventure matures into a warm acceptance and appreciation for his friends and the community of students he supports through his role as a Nature Find. Returning to Room 214 with a new perspective on what makes life meaningful and fulfilling freshens the familiar home-away-home picture book journey in a satisfying way. Chan couldn't have done a better job illustrating the welcoming hubbub that is an elementary classroom, with its range of diverse students, cozy corners for learning, and a dynamic teacher at the helm. She especially excels at contrasting the ingenuous affability of Rick with the panoply of disenchanted outdoor rocks. Details, such as amusing titles of rock-related books sprinkled through the classroom scenes and the colourful new decor pasted on the Nature Finds over time, balance nicely with the judicious use of white space, paneling, and clean, solid line drawings coloured with the soft, bright hues signalling the safety and warmth (most of the time) of Rick’s world. Endpapers include a delightful surprise as well as, before the book's beginning, various line drawings of rocks in stolid positions dot a field; at the book's end, those same rocks now bear the expressive, grumpy faces of the rocks Rick met in his adventure. Altogether, Falatko and Chan demonstrate that there is nothing wrong with a tried-and-true picture book formula if executed well, and, for Rick the Rock of Room 214, that statement holds up to be true, just as steadily as rocks hold up the world.