A Rock Is Lively
Written by Diana Hutts Aston
Illustrated by Sylvia Long
How is a rock lively? Until this book was published, it wasn’t clear how that was possible.But Aston finds a way. She makes rocks lyrical, almost poetic. Rocks are lively when they are molten or when they are part of a lively setting. They are mixed up because they are made from a recipe of many materials, like a cake. They are galactic because they can be parts of meteors, comets, or asteroids. They are as old as the earth. They can be as huge as a mountain or as tiny as a grain of sand. They can be helpful to animals to aid in digestion or to open clams. Rocks are surprising because they might be different on the inside. They can be inventive as in being made into tools. They can be a creative part of a pictogram, a building, or a sculpture. They can be made into Stonehenge or the Pyramids. The author wraps up the discussion with descriptions of the three types of rocks and shows how they are recycled through fossils, heat and pressure, and volcanoes.
Long’s illustrations are important parts of the book, providing comprehension for sometimes difficult names by showing exactly what the rocks look like. For rocks not directly referenced in the text, she chooses colorful and interesting subjects. She accurately depicts many, many different rocks in many different ways.
Fourth graders will want to use this volume as a beginning reference. Parents and teachers can check out the newsletter provided through the publisher’s website (www.chroniclekids.com).
Title: A Rock Is Lively- Authors: Diana Hutts Aston
- Illustrated by: Sylvia Long
- Publisher: Chronicle Books, 2012
- Reviewer: Sue Poduska
- Hardcover, 32 pages
- ISBN: 978-1-4521-0645-8
- Genre: Geology
- Lexile Score: 1160L
