What do you think?
Rate this book
If Rocks Could Sing: A Discovered Alphabet
Amazing rocks, found on a stretch of beach near the author's home, comprise this unique alphabet book. A is for Addition, and there are rocks in the shape of real numbers, too. B is for Bird, and there is a bird rock on a nest with an egg. G is for Ghosts, and there is a host of rocks that look like ghosts! Children and adults alike will pore over these fascinating rocks, and will be inspired collect their own.
48 pages, Hardcover
First published May 24, 2011
About the author
Leslie McGuirk
27 books5 followersLeslie McGuirk is the author-illustrator of several books about Tucker the dog, including LUCKY TUCKER, TUCKER'S SPOOKY HALLOWEEN, and HO, HO, HO, TUCKER! She also co-authored and illustrated WIGGENS LEARNS HIS MANNERS AT THE FOUR SEASONS RESTAURANT. She lives in Vero Beach, Florida.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 139 reviews
February 21, 2012
What a great concept! Author Leslie McGuirk collected all of the rocks for this book from beaches in Florida (with the X-ception of the letter "X" which was found in Maine). Not only does she find rocks in the shape of all letters in the alphabet, but rocks shaped like the things those letters describe. For example, an L-shaped rock and a rock shaped like a Lemon. In a few cases, she was a bit less literal, such as the "J" standing for "Joy" and represented by what looked to me to be two smiling (joyous) fish. Some of my favorites were the Seahorse rock and the Bunny rock. The letter "K" took her ages to find, and I am not so sure I love the representation (a boot-shaped rock, for "Kick"), especially since K is "my" letter ;-) But, anyway, most of the letters and shapes are just wonderful. It's a very creative and fun book and one that many people, be they rock collectors or beachcombers, or just fans of whimsy, will enjoy.
February 20, 2012
I loved this book. It’s an unusual and creative and informative alphabet book. I appreciated the author’s photo as it was and her note about the rocks and the little scientific paragraph about what rocks are.
I collected rocks as well as shells when I was young and would have always loved this book.
At first I wanted the illustrations to contain nothing but rocks but I grew to enjoy some of the other props.
As is typical, the letter X was a bit problematic, and the only rock found in Maine and not in Florida to boot. I like what X stands for but wish it was rocks in the X and O shape that made up the illustration for that letter. I think my favorite illustrations were for J, V, and W.
Highly recommend this book to all readers who enjoy alphabet books, and rocks, especially those who collect rocks, and to anyone who appreciates nature. This book is a winner! It would make a fabulous gift book for the 3 to 8 year old crowd.
I’m extremely impressed with this rock collector author.
I collected rocks as well as shells when I was young and would have always loved this book.
At first I wanted the illustrations to contain nothing but rocks but I grew to enjoy some of the other props.
As is typical, the letter X was a bit problematic, and the only rock found in Maine and not in Florida to boot. I like what X stands for but wish it was rocks in the X and O shape that made up the illustration for that letter. I think my favorite illustrations were for J, V, and W.
Highly recommend this book to all readers who enjoy alphabet books, and rocks, especially those who collect rocks, and to anyone who appreciates nature. This book is a winner! It would make a fabulous gift book for the 3 to 8 year old crowd.
I’m extremely impressed with this rock collector author.
January 8, 2020
Children's author/illustrator Leslie McGuirk spent ten years collecting the letter-shaped rocks that she used to illustrate this innovative alphabet book, patiently waiting (or impatiently waiting, one would imagine) for them to wash up on the Florida shore where she (with one exception) found them. "Nature has its own timing," she observes in her brief afterword, but the results are - to judge by this beautiful title - well worth the wait!
If Rocks Could Sing is just a lovely little book, one I found far more engaging than I would have expected, given that I don't often pick up alphabet books. The letter-rocks were amazing - I don't think I've ever seen rocks in these shapes before! - as were those used to represent the various objects and/or concepts mentioned in the text. I think my favorite were the ghost-rocks. Well worth a look, for those in search of innovative and engaging alphabet books, or for rock lovers, young and old.
If Rocks Could Sing is just a lovely little book, one I found far more engaging than I would have expected, given that I don't often pick up alphabet books. The letter-rocks were amazing - I don't think I've ever seen rocks in these shapes before! - as were those used to represent the various objects and/or concepts mentioned in the text. I think my favorite were the ghost-rocks. Well worth a look, for those in search of innovative and engaging alphabet books, or for rock lovers, young and old.
March 8, 2012
This is a very clever, very intriguing, alphabet book. Each letter is represented by a rock in the shape of said letter, and then the corresponding photographic-illustrations are made up of rocks that help explain that word.
For example, there would be a rock shaped like an “F” for “fish” and the next illustration would be of rocks that look like fish.
I found myself constantly amazed and the variety of rock shapes, and how much many of them really looked like the thing they were portraying!
A few times the words for the letters felt a little “cheaty” to me, “X” for XOXO… I mean, it sort of works… Still, overall, I’m amazed that McGuirk could find all these incredible rocks and put something like this together! Sounds like it was just as fun to do as it was to read!
For example, there would be a rock shaped like an “F” for “fish” and the next illustration would be of rocks that look like fish.
I found myself constantly amazed and the variety of rock shapes, and how much many of them really looked like the thing they were portraying!
A few times the words for the letters felt a little “cheaty” to me, “X” for XOXO… I mean, it sort of works… Still, overall, I’m amazed that McGuirk could find all these incredible rocks and put something like this together! Sounds like it was just as fun to do as it was to read!
May 21, 2012
I love rocks. I love finding rocks that look like other things. I like keeping those rocks out in a basket or in a small tin where I can look and feel them again. This is my little rock collection on steroids. It took patience for the author to find rocks representing every letter of the alphabet and then more to illustrate matching words. But it was worth the result. This is a simple and fun way to teach kids the alphabet.
November 23, 2011
The author of this book has collected rocks in the shape of the alphabet and objects for each letter for over ten years. This book is the result. It’s a clever collection of wonderful wind-and-rain-sculpted rocks depicting a wide variety of objects with little help from non-rocks. It had the children in the library ooh-ing and aah-ing.
February 8, 2012
If Rocks Could Sing: A Discovered Alphabet by Leslie McGuirk is an amazing ABC book using discovered rocks.
The text is in a large font with the key word in a larger font. Each letter of the alphabet is a photographed rock shaped like a letter. The front book flap explains that the author has collected rocks that look like each letter of the alphabet and rocks resembling objects beginning with each letter of the alphabet along a stretch of Florida seashore. An author's note at the back explains it has taken over ten years to collect all these rocks, and that the K rock was the last letter rock to be found.
McGuirk's photographs are of rocks that look like a letter of the alphabet paired with a rock or rocks that look like a word or form an object starting with the pictured letter. Among my favorite rock shapes are the elephant, bird, toast, and ghosts.
This should be a big hit with rock collectors and those looking for inventive, original alphabet books. McGuirk's dilligence in collecting these rock shapes is admirable, and a good lesson for kids about not giving up. While many lettes stand alone with just the rocks, some are enhanced by other objects. While the hugging kissing rocks XOXO are a bit too whimsical for me, most of these are perfect and should stretch the imagination of children, and encourage then to view nature more carefully. Recommended for school and public library collections.
For ages 3 to 6, alphabet, rocks, photography, nature, ocean, print-awareness, shapes, and fans of Leslie McGuirk.
The text is in a large font with the key word in a larger font. Each letter of the alphabet is a photographed rock shaped like a letter. The front book flap explains that the author has collected rocks that look like each letter of the alphabet and rocks resembling objects beginning with each letter of the alphabet along a stretch of Florida seashore. An author's note at the back explains it has taken over ten years to collect all these rocks, and that the K rock was the last letter rock to be found.
McGuirk's photographs are of rocks that look like a letter of the alphabet paired with a rock or rocks that look like a word or form an object starting with the pictured letter. Among my favorite rock shapes are the elephant, bird, toast, and ghosts.
This should be a big hit with rock collectors and those looking for inventive, original alphabet books. McGuirk's dilligence in collecting these rock shapes is admirable, and a good lesson for kids about not giving up. While many lettes stand alone with just the rocks, some are enhanced by other objects. While the hugging kissing rocks XOXO are a bit too whimsical for me, most of these are perfect and should stretch the imagination of children, and encourage then to view nature more carefully. Recommended for school and public library collections.
For ages 3 to 6, alphabet, rocks, photography, nature, ocean, print-awareness, shapes, and fans of Leslie McGuirk.
June 18, 2011
Brilliant in its concept. So brilliant that I wish I had thought of it!
Taking completely unaltered rocks the author personally found, we are given a simple, yet totally cool alphabet book. The rocks are each in the shape of a letter of the alphabet, as is whatever the letter is standing for. We have "b is for bear," "q is for question mark," "i is for igloo," and my favorite "g is for ghosts."
At the end, readers are given a neat explanation of how McGuirk came about the idea of this book and how the collection even came to be. I was so glad to see these tidbits included, because I was definitely wondering as I flipped through the pages.
This one is great for kids AND parents. Visually stimulating and a lot of fun...plus it just may spawn some ideas for kids starting their own cool collection.
June 29, 2012
Leslie McGuirk spent many years collecting interesting rocks on the Florida coast. The result of those years of searching is If Rocks Could Sing: A Discovered Alphabet.
As this is an alphabet book, each page illustrates some letter from the alphabet. A is for addition, C is for couch potato, N is for nose, S is for seahorse and the like. This book though relies on the found rocks for the letters as well as most of the illustrated items. What's most striking about these photographs is how closely the rocks resemble the real things.
This book is perfect for anyone of any age who loves rock collecting. If my rock obsessed grandmother were still living, I would be giving her a copy of this book for Christmas. Instead, I am reminiscing about her love of rocks (they were everywhere in her house and yard) with my two rock-collecting children.
As this is an alphabet book, each page illustrates some letter from the alphabet. A is for addition, C is for couch potato, N is for nose, S is for seahorse and the like. This book though relies on the found rocks for the letters as well as most of the illustrated items. What's most striking about these photographs is how closely the rocks resemble the real things.
This book is perfect for anyone of any age who loves rock collecting. If my rock obsessed grandmother were still living, I would be giving her a copy of this book for Christmas. Instead, I am reminiscing about her love of rocks (they were everywhere in her house and yard) with my two rock-collecting children.
April 12, 2012
Such a neat book! The kids had a great time looking at the rocks in this one, and we were all impressed by the author's dedication toward finding a rock for every letter of the alphabet! I love beachcombing, but I tend to focus on shells. After reading this book, I will start looking for interesting rocks, too!
July 24, 2012
This book is fantastic! While some of the words for the letters are a little strange, the shaped rocks are amazing! We read this book no fewer than seven times the first afternoon Mommy brought it out, and lots of times since. LittleJohn is very good at reading it, too. In our copy, J is for "John" (I guess the smiling rocks remind him of mommy & him!)
September 2, 2011
SPECTACULAR! Rocks in the shapes of letters, numbers, and objects are presented in the form of a super cool, not-so-traditional ABC book.
McGuirk's creativity in showcasing her unique rock collection is astonishing. I loved it!
McGuirk's creativity in showcasing her unique rock collection is astonishing. I loved it!
January 26, 2019
Wow. Better than finding shapes in clouds, because they're transient (but now I want someone to take pictures of clouds and make a discovered alphabet book with them). The title is explained in the note at the end - it's a little too new-age but fine.
March 30, 2021
If Rocks Could Sing is a children's picture book. The book details various shapes of rocks that outline the alphabet. The author took great time and detail to bring attention to the alphabet through this particular art form. The effectiveness of this book will carry on for generations to come, the use of illustrations is absolutely amazing the author definitely has to have a lot of patience and time to be able to craft the entire alphabet with rocks. I would like to be able to touch the rocks to feel the various textures that were presented throughout the book. The author was able to capture the true authenticity of the rocks through her photos. I believe this book would be very appealing to young readers it may spark an interest that was not there from the beginning, this book may in fact spark the interest in another young readers to pick up and carry the torch to develop another book of this type. This book would be helpful in a unit on nature where you could help the students realize the limitless possibilities of nature, you could expand on the unit by asking the students to troll the beaches and locate their own masterpiece in the shape of an alphabet letter.
November 17, 2021
This book is a very cute and unique rendition of an alphabet book. The entire book is pictures of rocks shaped like the letters that they correspond to in the alphabet and what word those letters can be associated with. For example: Y is for Yawn. All of the rocks used for the illustrations were collected by the author of the book over 10 years. I think that this level of dedication helps differentiate this alphabet book from others. I think it's also a very good opportunity to teach younger children about rocks and all the different shapes and sizes that they come in. I gave this book 5 stars because she uses an illustration technique that I've never seen in any other alphabet book. I liked how she included at the end of the book a talk about rocks and how she came across all of the rocks shown in the book. This is a very cute book for children to read and learn about the alphabet and rocks all at the same time.
October 7, 2019
Genre: Picture Books – Alphabet book
Awards: N/A
Audience: Pre-school to 2nd grade
A. This book is an alphabet book because it is going through the alphabet and then has a word that starts with the letter.
B. The author uses photographs of rocks that look like the letter as well as what is being described. Using the photographs of the staged rocks allows the reader to get excited and intrigued at the photographs as they read.
C. I would use this book with a group of students as a integrated lesson of science and reading when discussing about rocks and then have the students do a similar concept with a different material.
D. Q: What is “j” for? A: for joy
Awards: N/A
Audience: Pre-school to 2nd grade
A. This book is an alphabet book because it is going through the alphabet and then has a word that starts with the letter.
B. The author uses photographs of rocks that look like the letter as well as what is being described. Using the photographs of the staged rocks allows the reader to get excited and intrigued at the photographs as they read.
C. I would use this book with a group of students as a integrated lesson of science and reading when discussing about rocks and then have the students do a similar concept with a different material.
D. Q: What is “j” for? A: for joy
August 30, 2018
Lots of Kids books gonna be on this feed in the next few years since I'm Daddin' hard so be warned.
This is definitely my favorite book we've got for the baby so far that isn't one of the ultra untouchable classics (like Shel Silverstein, etc.). It's especially nice to see a photo-based design for a kids book since most of them are obviously illustrated. The afterward about it taking the author ten years to complete her collection of letter and animal shaped rocks provides a nice backdrop. And let's face it, the rocks just look cool.
This one's a hit.
This is definitely my favorite book we've got for the baby so far that isn't one of the ultra untouchable classics (like Shel Silverstein, etc.). It's especially nice to see a photo-based design for a kids book since most of them are obviously illustrated. The afterward about it taking the author ten years to complete her collection of letter and animal shaped rocks provides a nice backdrop. And let's face it, the rocks just look cool.
This one's a hit.
May 16, 2025
If you love rocks or imagination, this is the book for you!
This is a traditional alphabet book in the sense that there is a letter rock and a rock that helps depict the picture. A is for addition, etc. I would put this in the nontraditional style of concept books. Very clever and it makes you want to get out and explore nature!
I love the author's note because it tells you how much time this "discovered alphabet" book took to be put together. It's a ten year book! Amazing.
The front and back splash pages also show the entire alphabet together.
Reviewed from a library copy.
This is a traditional alphabet book in the sense that there is a letter rock and a rock that helps depict the picture. A is for addition, etc. I would put this in the nontraditional style of concept books. Very clever and it makes you want to get out and explore nature!
I love the author's note because it tells you how much time this "discovered alphabet" book took to be put together. It's a ten year book! Amazing.
The front and back splash pages also show the entire alphabet together.
Reviewed from a library copy.
September 10, 2023
I don't know which I found more interesting, the rocks shaped like letters or the ones shaped like a word that start with the letter. The rocks shaped like letters reminded me of Alpha-bits cereal and I got a kick out of the rocks representing a rabbit, the word joy, yawn and ghosts. The fact that it took the author ten years to collect what she needed impressed me and I found this book so much fun to peruse.
May 17, 2018
The whole time I was reading this I just kept wondering "How long must it have taken her to find all these rocks?!" and I'm happy to say the end "rock talk" of the book does!
November 14, 2020
I’ve always enjoyed books that take found objects and make you see something else. Creator of this book did such a thing with rocks found along a beach. This is a great book for kids needing to reinforce the alphabet.
February 15, 2021
This is a very basic ABC book, and it's lovely. I adored the closing message where the author talks about her ABC rock collection. It sounds like her childrens books place emphasis on nature because it's very important to her.
January 6, 2022
I wanted to love this - rocks are awesome, and shaped rocks even more! And great story behind the collection. But some of the letters were really hard for my littles to distinguish and I had to explain what the letter was, which makes the book, as an alphabet book, less than great.
March 31, 2022
I really liked the pictures in this book as it used the natural elements of rocks in each photo. I think this would lead to such a fun activity for students to search for their own unique crazy rocks.
November 4, 2017
Used this one for my craft program where we doodled on rocks. This is a great book. Not much story, but it's so cool that nobody cared. lol The rocks are amazing!
June 8, 2018
An alphabetic book illustrated with shaped rocks.
Fun to look at with small children.
Use to talk about art everywhere with older elementary level.
Fun to look at with small children.
Use to talk about art everywhere with older elementary level.
June 20, 2019
What a lovely idea - colecting a full set of the alphabet o stones scavenged from the beach.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Florence’s favourite is the ‘F’.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Florence’s favourite is the ‘F’.
Read
November 6, 2020This would be fun to use for a project collecting rocks as well as for letter recognition
April 25, 2021
This is a fun, imaginative nature-based alphabet book. I love it!
June 10, 2023
This is a fantastic book for alphabet and for "rocks". It has pretty large pages too for storytime fun.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 139 reviews