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THE SHINIEST ROCK OF ALL by Nancy Ruth Patterson

THE SHINIEST ROCK OF ALL

by Nancy Ruth Patterson & illustrated by Karen A. Jerome

Pub Date: Sept. 6th, 1991
ISBN: 0-374-36805-8
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Robert is out of sorts. The other kids keep teasing him because of a speech defect that turns his R`s to W`s—he can't even say his own name correctly (this is Virginia, where every syllable of ``Robert Morris Reynolds'' has significance); he keeps getting into trouble because cranky Mrs. Snead recognizes his voice so easily and because his distress makes him lash out with uncharacteristic anger. Fortunately, Robert's parents are both wise and sensible: choosing the right moment, his mom gets Robert to agree to go to a speech therapist, and he's soon on his way to earning the special rock the therapist promises him when he can say ``rock'' properly. Meanwhile, he's become more aware of others' feelings: after a dare sends him on a stiff hike with class fatty ``Chunkie,'' Robert decides to call him by his real nickname, ``Chuckie''; he has a rapprochement with his sister, and also works through some tricky moral issues after a former friend confesses that she has copied his answers on a quiz. In fact, too many of Robert's troubles are tidied up to be entirely believable, but that's a minor fault in a lively story with perceptively realized characters engaged in solving problems that are sure to be familiar to their fellow fourth graders. (Fiction. 8-11)*justify no*