STONES AND BONES: FOSSILS AND THE STORIES THEY TELL — Review

Thought for the Day:

 “It is a magical thing for a handful of words, artfully arranged, to stop time. To conjure a place, a person, a situation, in all its specificity and dimensions. To affect us and alter us, as profoundly as real people and things do.”

~ Jhumpa Lahiri ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Action scenes are fun to write, but challenging to make them truly engaging. HERE K. M. Weiland posts about how to Write Better Action Scenes: Make It About the Characters.

Years ago, I was in a critique group of mostly beginning writers. I was a beginner at the time. I got slammed by one of the members for point-of-view issues. When I said I was using an omniscient point of view, she insisted there was no such thing. It was quite the discussion, but none of us could convince her that omniscient could be a legitimate point of view. It certainly wasn’t popular at the time. HERE is a good post on Writer Unboxed about the Rise of the Omniscient Voice.

The mention of comp titles always brings groans and moans. HERE is a good post by David G. Brown at The Darling Axe that tells us Don’t Stress about Comp Titles. That’s refreshing.

I have been busy trying to plan another trip. I will be attending a high school reunion in Minnesota with events on June 4th and 5th. I thought it would be easy to knock off a bunch of Midwest baseball parks in my ongoing quest to see a game in every major league park before I die. I had an entire plan worked out when I realized I had the wrong dates for my reunion events. I was one day off. Well, boy howdy, did that ever throw a monkey wrench into everything. One day can make a world of difference to a plan when team travel schedules are involved. So now I have a new plan. I’m leaving ten days later than I originally planned, hopscotching all over the Midwest including visiting Chicago twice seven days apart, but no matter what I do, I cannot visit the Cleveland Guardians on this trip. If all goes according to this plan though, I will visit 7 parks, bringing my total up to 20 parks with 10 to go. Now, if I could just control the weather…

Last week, I offered a gently-read copy of WALTER STEPS UP TO THE PLATE by Sue Houser to one of you. This week’s winner is Nancy. Congratulations and thanks for playing, Nancy! I will get the book to you soon.

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know that I have a real appreciation for non-fiction picture books for middle-grade readers. They are quite popular, and I see a lot of them coming out. When I find them on the review lists, I always grab them. When I was a kid, I was pretty sure I wanted to be an archaeologist. I still feel that way sometimes! So when I ran across STONES AND BONES: FOSSILS AND THE STORIES THEY TELL by Rob Wilshaw and illustrated by Sophi Williams on the list for the Portland Book Review I was very excited. I was pretty sure I would love it. I was not disappointed. Here is the review I wrote for PBR.

Earth is a repository for evidence of its long history of life. This record is made up of fossils, more and more being found every day as scientists dig down to find the story of earlier times. This wonderful book will fascinate youngsters ages six to ten or eleven with pages jam-packed with scientific information written in a very accessible, conversational manner explaining things like what fossils are and how they are formed, what paleontology is, and so much more. It is broken into sections covering the Precambrian and Paleozoic Eras, the Mesozoic Era, the Cenozoic Era, and Paleontology today. The information is broken into small chunks of text presented in a graphically pleasing way with fun illustrations by Sophie Williams that support the text. The layout will draw youngsters’ eyes through the pages and the chunks of text as presented are inviting and not at all intimidating, as science information often can be. Rob Wilshaw, the author, does not shy away from scientific terms, but there is a good glossary at the end. Readers are invited to become scientists with information about how to hunt for fossils and how to make a fossil hunting kit. Don’t miss this one!

Please don’t forget to check for other Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday posts at Greg Pattridge’s blog HERE.