This piece was written by Natalie Akers, a current IslandWood Graduate student.

IslandWood graduate student, Natalie Akers, with a School Overnight Program student at Mac’s Pond.

“Everybody needs a rock.” – Byrd Baylor

“Decide to have a good luck charm because it’s good to always have a little symbol or something to look to remind you that you’re ok.” – Jason Reynolds

Inspired by Byrd Baylor

I first encountered Byrd Baylor reading her book, “The Other Way to Listen,” to a group of School Overnight Program 5th graders on a night hike. The story centers on a child’s journey to listen to the hills sing. Halfway through reading aloud, I realized I was going to have to muster a melody to match the text (A familiar feeling to bedtime orators?). I sang high and low pitches mirroring her lyrics: “Hello Hills, Hello Hills, Hello Hills…Hello.” For the remainder of the week, my students did not stop singing the tune.

I drove home that night imagining how magical Byrd’s texts would be as audiobooks. Each of Baylor’s poetry and picture books draws on her experience living and learning off-grid in Arizona’s southern deserts (ancestral lands of the Tohono O’odham) to give students frameworks for building their own relationship with the natural world.

My favorite is Everybody Needs a Rock. Baylor prompts readers to bond with a single stone by giving ten rules for collecting a “special” rock. Tips include “always sniff a rock” and that “it should look good by itself in the bathtub.” As a piano teacher, I’ve resonated with the book’s groove-forward and poetic style. So, when it came to designing a technology-based teaching tool for the “Technology Into Practice” graduate course at IslandWood, I brought the idea to life.

Natalie, with a School Overnight Program student, looking at micro-invertebrates found during a pond exploration lesson at IslandWood’s Mac’s Pond.

The Making of Everybody Needs a Rock

I enlisted the help of my partner (and some audio engineer tools) to make this mini audiobook. At first, I read the book at the piano while simultaneously improvising the piano part. We used this first free-from session to find melodies and grooves that we later produced as individual tracks before stitching them together.

Next Steps

I imagine this project within a series of read & sing-alongs accompanied by curriculum. “Everybody Needs a Rock,” for instance, ends with a prompt for students to play a game for just one rock. With my students at IslandWood, we adapted a version of the Indian folk game, five stones, to play with our rock collection. I also often read it before encouraging students to find their own rock to become a good luck charm (inspired by Jason Reynolds – National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature – Write. Right. Rite. Series).

Perhaps families will find it inspiring to listen to the short audiobook (~15 mins) in the car on the way to collecting rocks at the park. I hope the artifact honors Byrd Baylor who passed away in June of 2021. And ultimately, that it serves as a mediating device for listeners to take a closer look at the world we walk on.

—

Learn more about IslandWood’s Graduate program in partnership with the University of Washington here.  

If you haven’t already, subscribe to our newsletter to stay in the know about blog posts, news, and events!