Space Rock

by Jon Buller, Susan Schade

Illus. in full color. "The unusual purple rock that Bob has found begins to talk, telling him that it fell out of a space ship and needs Bob's help to return to the planet Kal-dor. The subject matter will help lure problem readers and the simple vocabulary will keep them going. Vivid watercolors will add to children's enjoyment."-- Booklist.  

Genres: Childrens

48 pages, Paperback

First published November 8, 1988

Reviews

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bob is excited because he finally has something neat for show and tell. He’s found an unusual shiny talking rock from outer space! He’s worried that the other kids won’t believe him about the purple rock, but he has a bigger problem: how can he return the rock to Kal-dor, its home planet?

A Level 3 STEP Into Reading book, written at a mid-second grade reading level, “Space Rock” is appropriate for young independent readers in second and third grades. Written for children ready to read on their own, the stories have easy-to-follow plots about popular topics and have engaging characters. Bright watercolor illustrations accompany the five-chapter, forty-eight-page text of “Space Rock” and, while some of the vocabulary is more challenging, context and illustrations ensure understanding for the young reader.

Highly recommended.

[Taccara Hobbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vey colorful book and funny as well.

[Ashley Moser · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of a weird, strange, but cute story. I could see K-1 really liking it.

[Jamie Winslow · Rating 3 out of 5]

One day Bob and his classmates were doing a class project. They each had a balloon with a card attached to it with their name and address and a note that said please return with the date and location of where you found this. After class Bob was walking home kicking a can that had went underneath a bush. When he went to go pull it out he pulled out a neat looking rock instead. It was purple and shiny and looked like it had a face on it. Bob was so pleased with his rock and he felt like it brought him good luck on his homework and he found it fun to play with also. That night when Bob went to be he heard a noise. He could not figure out where the noise was coming from but he knew it was coming from somewhere within his bedroom. He finally figured out that his new rock was talking to him. He was amazed! The rock told him that he was from another planet and had wanted to visit new planets but when doing so a balloon flew up into their spaceship and popped. When the balloon popped it scared him and he fell out of the spaceship under the bush where Bob found him. His friends in the ship could not see him under the bush and the rock was worried that he would never be able to return to his planet. The next day Bob took his new rock to school and showed him off at show and tell. All the kids laughed at Bob and thought he was making up the story about the rock. When they went out a recess the rock was in Bob's pocket and started to get really hot. The rock could feel that his spaceship was close and wanted Bob to make sure that he held him out in the sun so they wouldn't miss seeing him. The rock worried he wasn't bright enough so Bob went back into the classroom and got a magnifying glass to make his glow bright into the sky. The spaceship did see the rock and came down to get him. All the kids and even the teacher were gathered around by now. All the space rocks came out and sang a real rock song for the kids to hear and then floated away in their spaceship. The kids and the teacher could not believe their eyes. A few days later Bob had received his notecard from his balloon in his mailbox and it was from the space rocks and was found in the space ship.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book for a mid-second grader to read. It's not much of a story, but I suppose a seven-year old would enjoy it. Bob and his classmates released balloons with notes in them. On the way home found a rock. It was no ordinary rock since it had fallen out of a spacecraft when it opened up to let in a balloon.

Bob brings the rock in for show-and-tell. No one believes it is a space rock until the antics begin.

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frank really enjoyed this story.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

They loved this!