The Great Stone Face

Gary D. Schmidt retells Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Great Stone Face, illus. by Bill Farnsworth, about a village prophecy that a man will be born with the likeness of the visage etched into the stone cliff that stretches above their valley and ""will be the noblest person of his time."" Only young Ethan and the town pastor still have faith in the prophecy. The artist's luminous oil paintings convey the lush valley as well as the quiet leadership that emanates from Ethan over the years-until readers themselves will recognize, as Ethan's granddaughter does, that the prophecy has indeed been fulfilled.