Stick Man

Reviewed: December 9, 2009
By: story by Julia Davidson / illustrations by Axel Scheffler
Publisher: Scholastic Books
32 pages, $19.99

Stick man lives in a family tree

with his Stick Lady Love

and his stick children three.

All is well until he goes for a jog one morning and gets nabbed by a dog who thinks he is just the thing to play fetch with. This is just the beginning of a lng exile which sees him tossed under a bridge, woven into a swan’s nest, used as the flag pole on a sand castle, used as a sword, a bow, a bat, a boomerang and an arm for a snowman.

No one listens to his pleas.

“I’m not a stick! Why can’t you see?

I’m Stick Man, I’m Stick Man,

I’M STICK MAN, that’s me,

And I want to go home to the family tree!”

Worst of all, he is collected to be fuel for a family’s fireplace and it is only by chance that he is able to rescue Santa Claus, who has become stuck in the chimney. Santa enlists his aid for the rest of his trip and then takes him home, where his family has been missing him for many months. They are reunited for Christmas.

The lively rhyme and clever pictures make this story a delight.

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