Secret Of Black Rock

Already loved this author/illustrator from his other works - Arthur and the Golden Rope, A Mouse Called Julian to name a couple - so I’ve been slowly adding to my collection. This book is a sweet take on loving the world around us and seeing the beauty in differences. Very well done.

My kid asked me to read this story every night after we took it home from the library. Now she has to rotate through the rest of this author's catalog, but the Secret of Black Rock is still one of her favorites

The illustrations are just lovely. Often the first thing that captures a young kid's imagination and whether or not a book is worthy of reading is the quality of the illustrations, and these are really well done.

Great book: superb story with a moral lesson, great art work plus it’s an interesting story for a wide age group. Creative!

The best thing about "The Secret of Black Rock" is its illustrations: they're bright and beautiful, with realistic marine life and a spunky little protagonist. There's nothing wrong with the story itself, but it's really three stories in one: a little girl disobeying her mother, the titular secret of the black rock, and the adults of the tale very nearly making a terrible mistake. Erin Pike lives with her mother and dog Archie in a fishing village, though she's not allowed to accompany her mother (a fisher-woman) on her trips because of the black rock, a legendary boulder of massive proportions that moves around and endangers boats. But Erin is intrigued by the story, and regularly stows away on her mother's boats in the hopes of seeing it. But one day, when the boat turns suddenly in the mist, Erin falls from the side and plummets into the water. But just when things are at their darkest, the black rock comes to her rescue – and it's not at all what anyone suspected. So there are a lot of things going on in this story: an environmental message, a "don't judge things by their appearance" moral, even a slight feminist angle considering Erin's mother is a fisherwoman (in any other book, this characters would be her father), but the illustrations help carry along the plotting. The rich greens of the sea, the diversity of the sea-life, the avuncular visage of the black rock, even Erin's mop of white hair, matching her mother's – it's all beautifully rendered. Perhaps not a classic children's tale, but a beautiful one nonetheless.

One of the most beautiful picture books of the year and such a sweet little story about curiosity, adventure, and open-mindedness.

I bought this for my grandson as he loves the books by the same author

I thought the book itself was a quality construction –from the well glued spine and durable cover, to the thick matte pages inside which were easy to turn and lovely to read. The story was one of adventure on the sea which quickly turned a little surreal, but it was just enough to provide little surprises and giggles from my young audience. I thought the colors and illustrations were quality and the story drew me in. This book, for me, invited repeated viewings –instead of the “one and done” that some books lend themselves to. I also thought that the book’s story and method of telling were pleasantly creative, and some of the illustrations stood out very nicely –in one scent the main character appears in different rooms in a house on the same page, which was a creative way for the author to show time progression and the method by which the protagonist was able to sneak out of the house for continued adventure. This was just a simple twist, overlooked the first time I read it, but a repeated viewing brought me the appreciation of this little visual gift. The story has a moral but not one that I thought was preachy or over the top –just be good to others, openminded, and willing to see things how others see them –and things that seem scary at might first might just be different… different, and ok. Recommended.