Michael Rosen's Sticky McStickstick by Michael Rosen. Illus. by Tony Ross

A story of resilience, Sticky McStickstick is the name given by Rosen to a walking stick which becomes the symbol of striving and perseverance to get better and leave hospital. The picture book relates Rosen’s own story, getting COVID in 2020, being asleep for forty days and waking to find that his arms and legs did not work.

In the tale, the hospitalised man peers out from his bed, frightened and alone. Three staff come in to get him out of bed. But they cannot. The next day they try again and get him onto a frame. After that they try a wheelchair.  While in the wheelchair, he spies people outside his little world, a woman watering her plants, a man in the street.  The next day he is taken to the gym, a fearful place, but designed to increase his strength. And the next day they give him a walking stick. They train him in its use and encourage him to try the stairs. Eventually he finds he can walk without the stick, but the stick is still there if he needs it. Going home he gradually learns to do without the stick; he learns to make a cup of tea, shakily at first; he climbs the stairs holding the bannister and walks in the garden with his family. 

Over time he relearns all the things he has forgotten and even though his stick is still there he has little use of it. But it reminds him of all the kind people who helped him along the way, encouraging him to get out of bed, to use a frame, a wheelchair, a stick and the gym.

All readers will see the perseverance needed to overcome this illness. Rosen presents a man totally beaten and fearful of the things the nursing staff are helping him with. All readers will recognise the initial fear of doing something they are not used to, of being fearful of failure, of wanting to hunker down and ignore the outside world. It is the strength of others, their determination that gets him out of his lethargy. They keep trying with different sorts of equipment, unwilling to give up. 

Tony Ross’ illustration parallel the conflict the hospitalised man is going through. His apt drawings, from the cover showing the man looking askance at the stick, and the stick offering an almost encouraging look back, readers will see themselves. The little world of the hospital is revealed with few colours, the white walls and sheets only mildly contrasting with the blues of the pyjamas and nurses’ uniforms. A little colour enters the picture when the man puts on his dressing gown, a signal he is no longer confined to bed, then when he greets his family, more colour appears. A subtle increase of the outside world and its influence. 

I love Ross’ facial expressions and reader will all look closely at how his expressions change through the story.

A wonderful tale of never giving up, of the help given by others and a telling story about the effects of COVID.

Themes: COVID, Hospital, Perseverance, Michael Rosen, Walking stick, Resilience, Hope.

Fran Knight