Sometimes, negative events can have a positive consequence. You never know for sure. That’s the larger message behind the thought-provoking children’s book The Flying Rock.

When a group of children are mean to Billy and tell him he can’t play with them, he gets angry, throws a rock at the group, and hits one - Timmy - on the head. Afraid, Billy runs home and tells his grandfather, who admonishes him that violence never solves problems; it just creates more. When grandfather calls Timmy’s house, he learns Timmy has been taken to the hospital. While they await word on Timmy’s condition, Billy’s grandfather tells him a story about a farmer and his family. At the end of the story, the farmer asks his son. “So who really knows what’s good or bad?”

Billy’s grandfather finishes his story just as Timmy’s father calls. Billy’s flying rock left a lump on Timmy’s head. When the doctors examined Timmy, they discovered a brain tumor that may have paralyzed or even killed him.

“Sometimes, we might not know if an action’s result is good or bad at the time. That is different from an action you know is right or wrong,” Billy’s grandfather says. He insists on an apology to Timmy, and Billy agrees. The next day, Billy, now a hero, is invited by the other children to play.

Beautifully written by Robert Rush and illustrated by Ruth Whiting, The Flying Rock shows that you never can tell what is good or bad.