About This Book

A Best Children's Book of the Year, 1998, Bank Street College 

"Kids will immediately be caught by the idea that, "the oldest things you can collect are rocks." This simple geology book goes on to discuss the formation, hardness, types, and uses of rock. The coverage is cursory, yet it is sufficiently engaging to hold the interest of a young audience. Keller's illustrations, line drawings with watercolor washes, work well in showing the cross-sections of earth and volcanoes. Two children appear in many of the scenes, exploring a Roman road, finding fossils, mixing cement, and collecting rocks to store in boxes and egg cartons. A few pages feature photographs, allowing more realistic views of various rock types. Another good introductory book from the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out series." — Booklist

"This is an excellent book for both boys and girls from about 5 to 10 years of age. These are the early collecting years, and rocks and minerals can be found almost anywhere. It explains, in simple terms, the basic varieties of rocks and why and how they occur. As young collectors soon find, rocks are beauty that you can hold in your hand. They don't wilt; they don't die. This book is a fine way to get kids started in building a rock collection." — Science Books and Films