annieb123
Written on Jul 24, 2018
Rocks, Fossils, Minerals, and Gems is a nonfiction intro to mineralogy aimed at young readers (elementary - middle school). Author Claudia Martin has written numerous books on nonfiction subjects for young readers previously.
Published by Quarto - QEB, due out 18 July, 2018, it's 80 pages and available in paperback format.
The text is easy to follow and logically structured. The pictures are curated from many sources; there is a comprehensive credits list at the end of the book. Though the graphics are not original to this book, they do a good job of supporting and enriching the text.
This would make a good addition to a science library or classroom introductory unit on mineralogy for primary to early middle school readers. It's appealingly colorful and easy to understand. It must be understood that this is a very basic introduction to some of the terms and properties of minerals. The science is sound and the book is factually correct (with a lot of trivia). The book includes a very short glossary and photography credits, but no bibliography or resources for further reading.
Three and a half stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes