Have you ever read the children’s book Roxaboxen? It is a true story about the author’s mother when she was a child. She and the neighborhood children create an imaginary town using rocks and boxes. It is a wonderful story about the power of imagination. And it all took place in Yuma, AZ. Summer was familiar with the story since she did a project on it in elementary school. But since Luie hadn’t heard it before, we borrowed it from the library. Luie was totally captivated by it. So today we set off to find Roxaboxen.
I looked online to find an address and learned that people are encouraged to decorate and bring rocks to donate to Roxaboxen. So before we left both kids found and decorated a rock.
It was fun to see all the other decorated rocks and how they were arranged in outlines of shapes.
In the corner of the park is a big sign that says “Leave a rock from your state” And you can see there are several interesting stones from other states near the base of the sign.
I was happy to see some ocotillo cacti because they are mentioned several times in the book.
The book has obviously been inspirational to families and classrooms all over the country. We saw some rocks had peoples names and dates on them, some had city and state, and some had painted pictures. The blue rock is from a kindergarten class in Wilbur, WA. If you are interested in sending a rock to Roxaboxen, click here to find out more.
Grandpa and I will go to the library to see if we can read the book too. Sounds like you had a fun day. Seems like there are a lot of fun and interesting things to do there. And your adventure is just beginning!
What an inspirational story about the power of a children’s book! I loved it.
I’m checking our library today (both City and County, hee hee) for Roxaboxen. Great story. thanks.
what a fun thing to do. I’m sure the kids loved it! I told Summer about the love lock bridge in Germany, you’ll have to make a special trip there too!