The Great Stone Face Book

Hawthorne's story of a single man's spiritual journey provides a thought provoking description of what it means to live a good life. Hawthorne's language has been updated for the modern reader, but his original humor and irony remain intact. The caricatures in this timeless tale hold true to form more than 150 years after the initial publication. Hawthorne tells the story of Ernest, a modest, hardworking citizen living near the Great Stone Face. Ernest's mother relates an old Indian fable about a great man who will be born in the valley and grow to look like the Great Stone Face. Ernest searches for this man—learning about human nature along the way.

Hawthorne's short story (featuring the Old Man of the Mountain) is illustrated using vintage New Hampshire postcards. These varied and colorful impressions take us back to the natural beauty of an earlier time, reminding us that it is we who are the caretakers of our natural world.

Publishers Weekly

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.