My son has a great imagination and is able to turn a cardboard brick into a present, a mail package, a cake, etc., so he really enjoyed this book. The animals aren't just using a stick to play pretend, though - it's showing how a simple stick is used for issue purposes. He enjoyed seeing all the ways a stick could be used and it gave him several ideas about how he could use one, too!

Great book to read with my storytime crowd. Imaginative and creative. Wonderful illustrations that keep the reader hooked.

This is a sweet book that shows children how different people (or, in this case, animals), can use the same object in different ways. It promotes diversity in opinion and hopefully shows children that everyone sees the world differently. It's a pretty simply book that is probably best suited to the toddler and young preschool crowd.

“A stick is a stick until it is a…” In this cumulative tale by Constance Anderson we learn all of the ways people and animals use sticks. They can be tools, toys, building material, homes, and inspiration. Anderson includes quick facts describing how the stick is used in each setting. Pair with Petra by Marianna Coppo and Not a Box by Antoinette Portis for more ideas on how everyday items can be viewed differently and imaginatively. Highly Recommended.

Curriculum Ideas: Have your students think of an everyday item that can be used in a multitude of ways. Journal about it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the published for the DRC of this book. A Stick Until...shows the many creative ways that animals use sticks. It is a simple text with beautiful illustrations. Each page is paired with a short informational sentence or two that explains more about how the animal uses the stick. The back matter contains short, but more in depth, informational paragraphs on each animal and the purpose the stick serves for them. This book reminded me of Not a Stick by Antoinette Portis, in the exploration of many creative uses for a stick, except that A Stick Until... explores the creative ways that sticks are actually used by animals in nature.

A stick starts as a branch from a tree and then it becomes a tool for different animals for different purposes. There are additional information at the end of the book too. Beautiful illustrations.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher

A stick is just a stick until…an elephant turns it into a flyswatter, an alligator uses it to catch prey, or a child uses a stick as a toy.

Beautifully written and illustrated book about how a simple stick can become a tool or a toy, as we discover the many uses animals and people can find for sticks. . A fun book to read to a child, and also one they can read for themselves and still enjoy when they are older. It sparks the imagination and is one i will be reading over and over again to future Grandchildren. Loved the elephant, my favourite animal, so a bonus for me and my granddaughter.

Very interesting structure to this book. Most all kids play with sticks. I never really stopped to think what else a stick is used for by different animals. I love the simplicity of the main story of the stick with more information included on each page for further reading.

Through beautiful artwork, we follow the journey of a stick as it is used by different animals in turn, to aid in food gathering, as a flyaway, and much more. Finally, the stick falls into the hands of several children, whose vibrant imagination makes use of it as a plaything. Lastly, it becomes a sturdy prop that supports a tiny sapling, that will eventually grow into a tree to supply many more sticks that may become tools or toys for other animals. Each entry has a brief fact about the use in question. At the end of the book, there is a section with other notes about the animals in question, or regarding human uses for sticks.

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Star Bright Books for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This book is unique in that there are not a lot of books out there on this topic. The story is about how different animals use sticks, and it provides an interesting perspective on how one thing can mean so many different things to people. The book uses facts to explain how the different animals use the stick but it also reads like a picture book.

I congratulate the author on creating an idea out of something that seems not to have a story, sticks have new meaning to me now.

Finding books about animals using tools isn't the easiest thing in the world to accomplish. With the growing need for STEM/STEAM resources this book has been written at a great time. The stick itself can be used as an example of the most basic simple machine/tool. I feel there is also a lot of potential to look at technology through the ages since humans began with sticks and progressed to using stones etc.

Another subject area I can see being used with this book is in art. I can imagine having the class members each locate a stick in the school yard and once in the classroom the task can be "What is the stick?". This task would be most effective after reading the book and I believe having some discussion about other ways the stick might be used by animals or humans - perhaps even a computer lab lesson with some internet research task to establish other uses.

This book would be great for any year level but I'm going to particularly recommend it for junior primary (grades R-2) and lower secondary (grades 7-9) as I feel they would most benefit from the tasks that can be created based on the book. Another group of students who this book would suit is ELL/ESL. Pictures speak a thousand words and it is very true with this book. A student with limited English would be able to grasp the concept since the theme is repeated on each page.

A Stick Until... is a great book to inspire imagination. It takes a simple object, a stick, and shows everything it could be. It also ties in well a Philosophy for Children session where we discussed what a stick is and one would define its use. The captions/notes in the book are a nice addition to the book - it allows the book to not only be interesting to younger children but those in Upper Key Stage 2. Thanks to Star Bright Books and Netgalley for the ARC.

A Stick Until by Constance Anderson is a picturebook. A stick is just a stick until an elephant turns it into a flyswatter, an alligator uses it to catch prey, or a child uses a stick as a toy. A simple stick can become a tool or a toy in this enjoyable look at the many uses animals and people can find for sticks. Creative uses of sticks range from chimpanzees catching tasty treats to birds attracting mates. A fun book to read to an inquisitive child or for use in a classroom, A Stick Until shows the wonders of nature and the joys of imagination.

A Stick Until is a beautifully illustrated book with images and information that will capture the imagination of animal lovers of all ages. It teaches children to imagine the different uses for something as simple as a stick. While I wish some stick wielding was done by kids was as harmless as a back scratcher, I like that this book offers some real example of how animals use a stick. I really found the informational part of the book, explaining how and why a large variety of animals can use a simple stick, to be nicely done. The information is well worded and simply put. The information is off to the side, and subtle on most pages, so that if you need to skip on a read you should be able to get away with it, at least until the child figures it out. This is a great read all around.

This a great book for STEM. The connected text and additional insight about how the different animals use a stick make it an enjoyable classroom read aloud. Another aspect of the book that works well is the combination of media and sketch used for the different scenes. A great extension for the classroom would be to let students use inventive thinking to come up with their own uses for sticks.

This was an interesting book that showed the journey of a stick and all the different things it can transform into. I also like the small informational segments--which would be good for older children to show how we are all connected in some way. I LOVED the illustrations in this book they were so vibrant!

I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I liked 80% of this book. Most of the book is nice, I like the examples that were chosen for animal tool use and I like most of the illustrations. It is a good choice to teach children about tool use in animals. There were just a couple illustrations towards the end of the book that I wasn't that wild about. However, that is a personal taste issue I believe rather than an actual issue. I really liked the illustrations most of the way through the book and I liked the word choices and examples used. There aren't too many children's picture books that feature animal tool use. The other thing I liked about this book was that you could either read it picture book style and just read a sentence per page if reading to very young children or you could read the paragraph at the bottom of the page as well for older children. I think this gives the book a good amount of flexibility.

This is one of my new favorite books! Not only will it serve as a fabulous read for children, it will inspire creative making and I can use it to help me teach difficult philosophical concepts in my theory courses. I am buying this immediately. Great information. Great illustrations. Great story.

A very cute little book about a stick and everything a stick can be when it's not a stick. The illustrations are ok.

This clever children’s book shows children that something as simple as a stick can be used in creative and innovative ways. The colorful illustrations are a great addition. Plus they provide a discussion starter for the parent and child or teacher and student.

In addition to the story, A Stick Until. . . includes factual statements that explain what the animals are doing in the illustrations. In this way, it is an educational tool giving children a glimpse into science. As such, this book caters to a wide range of ages.

This book would be a great starting point for the parent or teacher to encourage children to imagine what they would do with a stick or what other common items might have various purposes.

Read more at http://jasoncstanley.com/book-review-stick/

5★
Absolutely delightful! Attractive, entertaining, informative. Love it!

"A stick is a branch of a tree until . . . it is a fly swatter . . . until it is a walking cane . . . until"

[My Goodreads review includes a picture with the following caption.]
Picture of a baby elephant with a big elephant who plucks a leafy branch and brushes its face

The beautiful pictures illustrate how different animals use a stick, whether it's as a tool to poke down a hole to collect termites (chimpanzees, courtesy of Jane Goodall's research, which is credited), as 'bait' balanced on the nose of a crocodile to tempt water birds to alight (yikes!), or as a way for a heron to entice a mate to join him in building a nest together.

Wonderful illustrations with simple headings and additional information for older readers or an adult to explain more about the animal's use.

The end of the book has further information as well, including history of how the Audubon Society was formed. Great!

Thanks to NetGalley and Star Bright Books for the copy for review. Can't recommend it highly enough!