Ethan grows up in the shadow of The Great Stone Face. With everyone else in his village, he waits and wonders who will fulfill the prophecy. One by one, men of wealth and power are believed to be the likeness of the Great Stone Face, but as the years go by each one disappoints. Ethan begins to believe the prophecy will not be fulfilled in his lifetime, until a young child, seeing more deeply than all the rest, reveals the truth . . .

Gary Schmidt's retelling of this classic story by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a moving look at the nature of goodness and a life well-lived. And Bill Farnsworth has beautifully captured the period and the tale's New England setting with images in the tradition of the Golden Age of Illustration.