Product Description

It all begins when Rocky follows Mick Strum around town while he sketches its people, animals and graveyard. Mick has been commissioned by Rocky's Kansas town to create a memorial to their war dead.



As Rocky learns to respect Mick and his talents, he helps her to develop her own artistic sensibilities.It all begins when Rocky follows Mick Strum around town while he sketches its people, animals and graveyard. Mick has been commissioned by Rocky's Kansas town to create a memorial to their war dead.



But the townspeople see things in Mick's drawings that they don't want to know or accept about themselves. Can Mick help them accept one monument that will be meaningful to everyone?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1234040 in Books
• Published on: 1993-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: School & Library Binding
• 149 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Rocky, an adopted, partly lame teenage girl, tells how a memorial to her small Kansas town's war dead came to be built and how her vision and those of the other residents were altered by the monument's artist. When Rocky first encounters Mick Strum, he is filthy and disheveled, sleeping off a drinking binge in his dilapidated car. But she is magnetically drawn to this unlikely seer and from him learns to observe freshly and to develop an artist's eye. In contrast to Paulsen's customary action-packed adventures, this novel is chiefly about ideas--featuring characters whose primary function seems to be expressing concepts about art and the artistic process. As such, the story has an over-intellectualized, sometimes pedantic air and may disappoint readers hoping for the gritty realism, veracity and raw power of Paulsen's best works. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 6-9-- Figuring she'll never get adopted because of her caramel-colored skin and crippled leg, Rocky finds herself chosen by Emma and Fred, a kind, indulgent, alcoholic couple from Bolton, Kansas. It's in Bolton that she finds her devoted dog, Python, who leads her to Mick, the rumpled artist hired to design a monument to the town's war dead and the person who changes Rocky's view of life, art, and the world. Through the drawings he makes in order to get a feel for the town's people and history, the citizens of Bolton see themselves and their surroundings in a new light, although they're not sure they like it. As Mick does with his sketches, Paulsen tells the story in quick, deft strokes. The gossip at the grain elevator on a summer day, Rocky's insecurities and toughness, and the varied characters are vividly yet succinctly conveyed. In just three days, Mick breezes into town, turns Rocky on to the power of art, and convinces the people of Bolton that a grove of trees will be an appropriate monument as well as an artistic statement. Avoiding a lot of artistic jargon, Paulsen carries readers along with his (and Mick's) strong images and enthusiasm. A powerful, affecting story with its comments on art and homage. --Susan Knorr, Milwaukee Public Library
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
When Bolton, Kansas, needs a monument to honor its war dead, artist Mick Strum takes an unorthodox approach. Thirteen-year-old Rocky observes the events that unfold. Young actress Daisy Egan delivers a controlled reading, resonant with the tension of a physically handicapped and racially different adolescent, ripe with awareness of life's mysteries as well as its hard truths. Egan successfully captures the innocence, frustration and humor of early adolescence in her high, nasal voice. Only the odd, occasional music over Egan's narration detracts from the excellence of this recording. T.B. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

one of the bestest books
I really liked the book.it made me look in deeper to the way other people live like people who drink.They might look stupid but they do stuff like mike he drinks but he does something he loves art!

The Monument
Gary Paulsen's The Monument is a very eccentric story of a young African American girl with a leg brace in an orphanage. Rocky (the young girl) feels as if no one will ever adopt her and one day a couple walked in and said that they wanted to adopt her and she fills with a magical feeling inside herself. Rocky lives the life she never thought she would have.In this magnificent book you go on with her through everything that is as new to her as it is to you. By Mackenzie

this book was the greatest book i have read
The book The Monument by Gary Paulsen . This book is about this about this girl who is an orphan who gets adopted by Fred and Emma. Her name is Racheal. Her parents drink but there still great people. While she goes out and walks around she saves this dog and the dog becomes her best friend . she names him Python. She also meets Mike they become friends also. Mike is an artist he drinks but he finshes every thing he starts. MY opinion is that these book is great .If your a person who likes a good and intresting book you should read this book .This book is for people who like art . If your aperson who drinks or is addicted to something but finish everything you do this is a book for you.