This was terrible. It was sad and depressing. It was made worse by the fact neither child referred to their parents as mum or dad - just Reena or Glenn or Vickie. Even the grandmas were referred to as Nova or Floy. Maybe that was to prevent confusion for the reader but it just came across as flat and made it feel as if there was no love between the families.

As for the main characters I didn't really like either of them. Blaze was somewhat alright. I felt sorry for him but he seemed like a decent person - just a little weird, rather anxious and somewhat depressed. And his family was nice even if they did feel flat and distant.

Joselle was a compulsive liar and a cruel little girl. I felt sorry for her in some regards, her relationships with her mother and her grandma are terrible and it no doubt hurts to be treated as a burden and unwanted. On the other hand she was a cruel lying brat, looking to spread the hurt around. She purposefully provokes Blaze by spelling out his dead mother's name with stones on his hill, then lies about when she got there to mess with his head. She did feel bad about it later, when she became friends with him but it was too little too late.

It was painful to get through. 1 star. ( )

A story about a boy name Blaze who is scare of everything. Joselle comes into his life, despite the awful things Joselle did to Blaze at first. Joselle soon realize she wants to be friends with Blaze.
Joselle is an unlikable character, but I see where she coming from. Howell's mom drop her off at grandma's for summer and runs off laying about were she going. What I like about Words of stone is I get two sides of the story, Blaze and Joselle.

I like it to be a little bit for Blaze to found out what Joselle did and the ending feels open. Some reviewers say that the characters are weird. What weirder, two people sanding hunch in a corner whispering about a girl being weird as she walks by or actually knowing someone and understanding that everyone has their perks. The story is great it follows the theme of forgiveness. ( )

Kevin Henke's books for intermediate readers all seem to have three things in common: 1) The cast of characters is quite small. 2) The events of the story lean towards the normal and everyday rather than the extraordinary. 3) Henkes is an absolute master of describing the thoughts and emotions of children.
"Olive's Ocean" won the Newbery, but I should think anyone who liked that book would love all of his middle grade novels. They are somewhat slow-paced, emotion driven, and quietly thoughtful.
In "Words of Stone" Blaze Werla lives with his grandmother and father. His mother died some years ago. He is the smallest boy in his grade, is afraid of many things, and is embarrassed about being afraid. Enter Joselle Stark, who comes to spend some time with her grandmother in a neighboring home, when her mother takes off with a boyfriend, temporarily (?) abandoning Joselle. Joselle is everything Blaze is not: outgoing, unafraid of anything, loud, unabashed, and unfortunately, has a tendency to lie a lot. As the book begins, the two children have not met, but Joselle knows a few things about the neighbor's kid, and she thinks it would be hilarious to use stones on the hillside facing his house to spell out pointed, hurtful messages to him. But when she actually meets Blaze, she is surprised to find she likes him a lot, and feels terribly guilty for having written those words in stone. But of course, Blaze doesn't know it was her, and she doesn't know how to confess her cruel actions to her new friend. ( )

Not my favorite Henkes - for some reason the lovely subtlety was too subtle, and the drama was too dramatic, for me to consider this a perfect book. I love how there are no answers, nobody is going to fix anything, there's no quest or resolution....

Simply, the 'plot' is about how the kids learn to know themselves better, find their strengths, and develop ways to cope with life's challenges both large and small. Sometimes the adults learn a little something, too - but mostly they're either quietly wise and brave, like Claire and Nova, or idjits, like The Beautiful Vicki. I would like to get to know Grammy Floy better - she was neither perfect nor a loser.

I must continue to make sure I read everything by Henkes. ( )

This book is about two kids. The boy is named Blaze. The girl is named Joselle. They meet later and find out that they have things in common. I like this book because it is about friendship. I recommend this book to people who like reading about friendship. ( )