Sticks and Stones
Cassie Brooks
North Street Book Prize 2025 (view all the winners)
Honorable Mention, Children's Picture Book
Critique by Jendi Reiter
Good picture books about spiritual traditions other than Christianity and Judaism are hard to find on bookshelves, and even rarer in our contest. As a pagan, I was predisposed to have a soft spot for Sticks and Stones, written by Cassie Brooks with illustrations by Vaishnavi Dukhande. At the same time, because I'm personally invested in accurate representation here, I held the book to a high standard.
First-round judge Annie Mydla noted something that also delighted me about the illustrations: "It's so refreshing to see a larger woman with blue hair and tattoos in a children's book, finally! The visual style is professional, colorful, and joyful."
The rounded, bright, cozy images immediately draw you into the characters' world. When the story opens, little Elijah is sad because other kids say he's "too much". He's loud and physically expressive, and his special interest in collecting rocks and sticks seems weird to them. Neurodivergent feels! To show him that he's not alone, his mom invites him into her home office and explains her intuitive connection with the crystals and wooden wand that she uses as a Wiccan.
There are lots of "witches" in mainstream picture books, but they invariably have pointy hats and broomsticks, and are either villains or fantasy characters. Understandably, Elijah is confused because his mom doesn't fit the stereotype. She accurately describes the modern Wiccan paradigm that "witches are healers and teachers…storytellers and keepers of knowledge. They care about nature and help take care of the earth." The accompanying picture is a montage of friendly-looking, ethnically- and gender-diverse families. What a difference it makes to learn that a witch is something you can grow up to be, in the real world!
I would have appreciated more showing and less telling in the story. It was more of an illustrated conversation about the topic than a true dramatization. As such, it might not be as exciting for a kid to read. In terms of formatting, the text might have benefited from being more consistently left-aligned. I would have also broken up some large text blocks with blank lines between sentences for ease of reading. On the front cover, the spaces between words in the bylines felt a bit tight.
Despite these details, this is a groundbreaking book that I would recommend, not only to other parents in the pagan community but to all families who feel a spiritual connection to nature.
Read an excerpt from Sticks and Stones (large PDF, please be patient with the download)
Buy this book on Amazon.
