I was drawn in by the cover of this book and it's certainly one that caught my eye as a children's bookseller. Although I have to say I was enthralled by the quirky magical imaginative world this book brought me into. The prose just didn't do it for me. The recommended age is 12 and up while the main character is 19. Some of the wording was a little old or too young for this age and I probably would find it hard to find someone who would relate to this book as its out of sync with the recommended age and the level of language used.

Cute read, a middle-grade book that can be easily enjoyed by everyone. The science fiction space theme is amazing, and I really liked everything on this.

Oh dear. I loved the premise of this book and thought it'd charming. It wasn't. It wasn't anything that I expected.

Jack is a teenager but he's 19. He has a job and a girlfriend and lives in his own little flat. Not your typical protagonist for a book aimed at pre-teens but workable except for the fact he talks like a sixty-year-old man.

The dialogue throughout is stilted and formal.

The grammar is absolutely appalling.

Word usage is way too old for the target audience... Seriously, what 12 year old would know what obdurate meant? It felt like the author used simple language then played with the thesaurus and randomly switched some out to try and sound more highbrow or something. *shrugs*

It's not a long book but reading it was so tedious my son (who is seven) gave up with it after a few chapters and I gave up about half way through. I couldn't finish it.

I'm sad to say, I really can't recommend this.

I thought this book was really quite amusing at the outset. A mysterious rock appears and no matter how hard you try, you can’t get rid of it. Then you find out it has special powers and life becomes even more interesting. I enjoyed the comedic aspect of the book - every time you throw the rock away, it reappears and how you can use its power to help you do crazy things. I also enjoyed the time travelling and the twist in the tale when the main character, Jack, meets an ancestor and manages to save people in war-torn Africa. However, I was disappointed in the ending. I don’t like stories that end with “...and then I woke up.” I feel somewhat cheated and this is true of this tale. I wanted some more excitement and a reconciliation for Jack and his girlfriend but I was left wanting. That said, I think young people would enjoy the book; it’s easy to read and engaging. I would recommend it my students (aged 9-13).

You know that book that catches your attention by the cover? That is why I requested the eArc of A stone called Fred, by S. M. Locke. I found the cover so different and so beautiful that it was the reason I choose this reading.

Jack Watt is a boy who just got out of adolescence. He lives alone, works in a small business and has a girlfriend named Fiona McDuff.

One morning, Jack hears a crash in his kitchen and upon arriving discovers a mysterious glowing object on the table: a stone, a small meteorite. He runs downstairs, in his to the neighbors' house, and asks them to come see the object, but the neighbor thinks it is a simple stone that children on the street threw out the window.

But the stone is not a simply one, and in trying to get rid of it, Jack discovers that he is dealing with something exceptional. He feels connected to the object and decides to give it a name: Fred.

Fred is not just a stone. As we get to know the characters and get involved in reading we find out that Fred gives Jack some special powers. Because of this, our protagonist ends up getting involved in many confusions.

The book starts well, but then it kind of starts losing its way, it seems that it loses its focus a little, and the reader gets kinda, not knowing what's going to happen. But from the half to the end there is a turnaround that holds the attention. The ending is interesting. Fred had a mission and so he appeared so suddenly to Jack. We also find out that Jack was chosen to accompany him on this mission. There is a reason he was chosen by it.

The book does not have a concern to deepen in the characteristics of the characters nor to give details of the described places. The intention is to tell a fun story and arouse interest for reading.

I had some difficulties with the chosen language. For being a book focused on the childish audience I found the vocabulary a bit difficult and in many moments, I had to use the dictionary to understand the meaning of some expressions that I found. Of course, this may have been caused also by the fact that I am not a native English speaker or because I am more used to reading American English books than British, since both languages have their peculiarities. But even being a reader with a good fluency I was lost in some parts and with some expressions.

It is a book for young readers, but it can please audiences of any age.

This was a fun little chapter book.
Definitely the kind of book I would have loved as a kid.

Jack Watt wakes up to find a stone on his kitchen table.
Realizing that the stone is not going anywhere and as everything needs a name, Jack names the stone Fred.
Jack and Fred get into some silly situations and eventually go on an adventure through time.

Definitely a cute book. and appropriate for the recommended age group.

What a delightfully quirky reads. It reads like a Douglas Adams and will certainly path the way for children to enjoy the likes of Hitchhiker’s.