Episode 001 - Stonewords

Hello everyone. Welcome to our first episode here on The Quill’s Nest.

Today we are going to be discussing the book Stone Words, by Pam Conrad.

This book and I go way back. It is the first book I remember checking out from the school library, and the first book that really had an impact on me. It was 30 years ago, when I was in third or fourth grade that I originally read this book. I loved it so much I continually checked it out from the library. After checking it out probably 20 times, the librarian stopped me and made me choose another book.

I had a pretty rough time growing up and this book just spoke to me. I have no idea why I picked it up but it probably has something to do with the synopsis on the back which goes like this :

"The first time Zoe met Zoe Louise, Zoe was four years old. Zoe Louise was more than one hundred. From that day on--living in the same house, separated by a staircase and a century--Zoe and Zoe Louise have been an important and permanent part of each other's lives.

Now Zoe is older. And although Zoe Louise never grows up, she is changing in dreadful and frightening ways. Time is running out for Zoe's best friend--and Zoe is the only one who can help her. To do so, she must travel back one hundred years in time and somehow alter the past. But in changing the past, must she also change the present? If she saves her friend's life, will she lose Zoe Louise forever?”

First I want to mention the dedication of this book. The author dedicates it, “For my mother and the mother I am.” Which given the plot of the book, I find very intriguing.

The basic plot of the book is that Zoe’s Mother is unable to care for her. So when Zoe is four, her mother takes her to her Grandparents and leaves her with them. Zoe then meets Zoe Louise, a young ghost girl she has a connection with. Most of the book focuses on Zoe’s interactions with Zoe Louise.

I love the beginning of the book and how Conrad focuses on the emotions Zoe feels as she is describing her first night at her grand parents. She doesn't focus too much on what people look like or what the house looks like, just what things mean to Zoe. This allows us to learn a lot about Zoe and her past in a short amount of time. It allows us to bond with her, to care about her.

To me one of the most evocative paragraphs is this :

"Later, as it grew dark, Grandma, whose hands were warm took me up the main staircase to a little bedroom at the rear of the house. She held my hand in hers, and in her other hand she carried a shopping bag with my clothes. Once we were in the room she poured the bag out onto the bed. She made soft murmuring sounds as she shuffled through the clothes, and then more gently than I had ever known, she took my clothes off me, and left me alone. I didn't move. Willing her to come back to me, not to disappear.

Every sentence in this paragraph tells us about Zoe's childhood thus far and it does it so beautifully without any exposition. This is a beautiful example of showing and not telling.

The pacing of the story is great. There is no b plot. Everything is about Zoe and Zoe Louise. This book could of been padded out with chapters of Zoe's school life and Zoe's relationship with her mother.

While that may have been interesting and a tempting way to up the word count, I feel it would of diluted the main story. Stone Words is focused on one story. This is something that I wish was prevalent in more books. It's like we judge a book by how thick or complicated it is, how many words the author uses instead of the story and how it makes us feel.

If you're interested in writing, I really believe you can learn a lot from this book. This book is a simple story. There are no real antagonist for most of the book, no problem that must be solved until the last act when Zoe decides she must save her friends life. It doesn't really follow any of the classic formula's. I wish more books were like it.

Though it is subtitled a ghost story, it is not scary. The only time it might be scary or disturbing for a young reader is when Zoe Louise’s  ghost body is deteriorating and is described thusly :

“I could see the skin of her head through her rotting hair, and through that the plate of her skull, and through that the pale, watery blood soaking through her brain.”

All in all I think this book is entertaining for most everyone. If you have a young child that likes to read or you want to get them into reading, this is a great book to start with. If you are an adult and want a book that will entertain you for a few hours with a good story and a main character you will feel for and grow attached to this is a great book to pick up.

While making this review I did a quick search for Pam Conrad and found out she passed away on January 22, 1996 from breast cancer.

As well as being an author, she was the mother of two daughters.

Unfortunately, I will never be able to tell her how much her book touched me, how important it was and is to me.

However, even though she is no longer with us, she can continue to touch the lives of everyone who reads her books. She can even bring together people who never would of met each other if it wasn't for her and her stories.

That is probably the most beautiful thing about story tellers and their works.

Thank you for joining me for this inaugural episode of The Quill’s Nest.  The book I will be discussing next week is “Maniac Magee” by Jerry Spinelli.

The synopsis reads : “Jeffrey Lionel "Maniac" Magee might have lived a normal life if a freak accident hadn't made him an orphan. After living with his unhappy and uptight aunt and uncle for eight years, he decides to run--and not just run away, but run. This is where the myth of Maniac Magee begins, as he changes the lives of a racially divided small town with his amazing and legendary feats.”

If your interested in this book and supporting this channel, you can use these amazon affiliate link to purchase it. Using my affiliate link gives me a small commission and doesn’t add anything to your cost.

Stonewords  and Maniac Magee