I Am a Rock

Written by Ashley Qilavaq-Savard

Illustrated by Pelin Turgut

Inhabit Media

978-1-77227-475-2 

28 pages 

Ages 3-5

April 2024

Never has a rock been less of an insentient thing than in Ashley Qilavaq-Savard's I Am a Rock. For this child and his mother, this pet rock feels, sees, hears, and experiences all the seasons and life of an Arctic landscape, with or without its child by its side.

 

As a boy prepares for bed, a time open to great inquisition, Pauloosie asks his mother, "Anaana, what would it be like if rocks were alive?" as his adorable pet rock, Miki Rock, rests alongside him. With a playful voice and great wisdom, his mother answers him.

From I Am a Rock, written by Ashley Qilavaq-Savard, illustrated by Pelin Turgut

First, his mother tells of the rock watching as animals feed and make homes with the changing seasons. There are foxes and ptarmigan, belugas, and char. But there is more than just watching. There is also listening.

From chirps to howls to

beating hooves and squeaks,

I can hear them all.

From I Am a Rock, written by Ashley Qilavaq-Savard, illustrated by Pelin Turgut

And feeling? Miki Rock feels everything from the snow that blankets it to "the joy of the sun's warm kiss."

From I Am a Rock, written by Ashley Qilavaq-Savard, illustrated by Pelin Turgut

Finally, Miki Rock acknowledges that, though it can see, hear, and feel, it could not fly, run or walk until Pauloosie picked it up.

 

As I write this review, I hear Simon & Garfunkel's 1965 song with the same title but know their message is completely opposite to that of Ashley Qilavaq-Savard's book. While they sang of closing oneself off for protection, Ashley Qilavaq-Savard gives us a story of companionship and feeling that speaks to consciousness and awareness. Miki Rock is as sentient as we are. It may not be able to grow or to move (or can it?) but its appreciation for what goes on around it is evident. It senses warmth and cold and feels excitement and joy. It may be Pauloosie's Anaana who is giving that life to Miki Rock but, as a reader of I Am a Rock, I am convinced, as I'm sure Pauloosie is, that life exists within that rock.

 

If Ashley Qilavaq-Savard's words don't convince you, pair them with Turkish illustrator Pelin Turgut's artwork. Between Miki Rock's expressive face, which is limited to two specks for eyes and a crack for a smile, as well as orange lichen cheeks and a tuft of "hair" and landscapes of snowy mountains, frozen lakes, northern lights, and bright Arctic flora, Pelin Turgut gives us a rock that embraces its "life."

 

From I Am a Rock, written by Ashley Qilavaq-Savard, illustrated by Pelin Turgut

We may know logically that rocks don't feel anything but isn't fiction supposed to help us imagine different worlds and reach beyond the rational into something else? With the special companionship Pauloosie gets from Miki Rock, he already knows that a rock can be more than a fixed object. (A reading of I Am a Rock would be a fabulous lesson to teach the characteristics of living things.) Courtesy of his Anaana, Pauloosie now knows even more about his pet.