Rocks and Minerals

My son has recently become interested in the subject of rocks. Specifically, he has developed a fascination with crystals. So when offered a chance to review this new book on the subject from Scholastic, I accepted.

To get straight to the point, my son is a big fan of Scholastic Discover More: Rocks and Minerals and I can do nothing but recommend it to any child who is interested in knowing more about such things. It discusses what it means to be a rock collector, and the tools of the trade. There is information provided on volcanoes and water and how both are used to form particular types of rocks and minerals. The young reader is able to learn about caves, crystals, mining and treasure hunters and all of this information is surrounded with beautiful full-colored photographs to further pique their interest. Truly, it’s a great introduction to the subject and I, myself, have been caught perusing the photographs and checking out the differences between tourmaline and smithsonite. (Smithsonite is such a cool, super power-ish name for a rock.)

My one and only complaint about the book stems from my being a Creationist. This book opens by teaching a history of the earth presenting only the theory of evolution instead of discussing the two opposing view points (which I think is only fair to do). However, despite the fact that I disagree with Scholastic’s presented history, I also expect to see this and so my son and I had yet another discussion about my difference of opinion with this book. There is also a discussion of how a fossil is created which I disagree with in part but as this is also to be expected it doesn’t prevent me from allowing my son to read it so long as he has the opportunity to think through both viewpoints, and come to his own conclusion. I really wish publishers would assume children are smart enough to work through differences of opinion themselves instead of ignoring one viewpoint and promoting strictly the other, but I won’t hold my breath on a change in that department. We will enjoy the resource as we can.

This said, I really do think Scholastic Discover More: Rocks and Minerals is a useful tool in explaining how different rocks and minerals come to be, as well as how and where you are likely to find them. The pictures are awesome and this book has only further fueled my son’s interest in the topic. Therefore, on the whole, this book is a winner in my opinion.

Many thanks to Scholastic for sending a copy of this book my direction in exchange for my honest opinion.

Carrie blogs about all books through the lens of her worldview over at Reading to Know.