The Thinker - Rodin

The sun feels warm on my shoulders. Birds sing happy songs in the trees all around me. I sit very still on my big, round rock. I am strong and cool, made of shiny metal. My chin rests on my hand, and my eyes look down. I am thinking. I am always, always thinking. Hello. I am The Thinker, and I have a secret. Even when I am perfectly still, my mind is on a wonderful adventure.

A man with kind, strong hands made me. His name was Auguste Rodin, and he was an artist who lived a long, long time ago. Around the year 1880, he took soft, squishy clay and began to shape me. He smoothed my back and curled my toes. He wanted me to look like I was thinking very, very hard. At first, he imagined me as just one small part of a giant, magical-looking door. The door was filled with many people and many stories. But then, he looked at me and decided I had a very important job to do all on my own. My job was to sit and think, and to help others think, too. So, he made me into my very own statue, strong and proud.

Auguste was so happy with his work that he made many copies of me from shiny, strong bronze. Now, I can sit in beautiful gardens and quiet museums all over the world. People of all ages come to visit me. They see me sitting so still and they get quiet, just like me. They rest their own chins on their hands and start to wonder. They think about happy things, puzzling things, and dream up new ideas. Being quiet on the outside helps you hear the amazing ideas on the inside. What wonderful things will you think about today?