NONFICTION

A Rock Is Lively

by Dianna Hutts Aston
2012. 40p. 978-1-45210-645-8. 16.99.
COPY ISBN
Gr 3-6–Another beauty from Aston and Long, creators of the equally eye-catching An Egg Is Quiet (2006), A Seed Is Sleepy (2007),  and A Butterfly Is Patient (2011, all Chronicle). This time they take on the seemingly sedentary world of rocks and minerals, showing them to be anything but (when you know your geology).  Boiling underground, freezing in space, colorful or drab, enormous or minuscule, health food (grits for gizzards), tools for prehistoric man and modern chimps, canvas for paleolithic art or construction material for the Taj Mahal–rocks get around. Aston’s quiet text follows their morphings from magma to various incarnations and back again, while Long’s meticulous, elegant watercolors record their astounding diversity.  Rocks are “surprising” as geodes. They are “creative” when viewed as pigments for a prehistoric palette. Rocks are “lively.” A handsome piece of bookmaking from the artistically rock-strewn cover to the glorious azurite endpapers, this is an elegant window into the hitherto static existence of rocks and minerals. Eye-catching and eye-opening.–Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY
Factual information about rocks, rock formations, and minerals, as well as the ways in which humans have used rocks as tools and for art, are characterized with adjectives at times poetic ("A rock is helpful" or "creative") and other times straightforward ("A rock is old"). The colorful but flat artwork fails to capture fine details of the rock and mineral types portrayed.
A poetic, visually stunning introduction to the world of rocks. An engaging format. At the top of a page is a declarative statement (e.g. “A rock is old.” “A rock is huge . . . and tiny.”), followed by one or more brief paragraphs of information that expands the point. Accompanying “A rock is galactic,” for example, are descriptions of outer-space rocks: “COMETS are balls of rock and ice—sometimes called ‘dirty snowballs’—that are heated by the sun and soar . . . leaving glowing ribbons of dust behind them.” Throughout, Dianna Hutts Aston presents facts in an accessible, age-appropriate way: “All rocks are made of a mix of ingredients called minerals. Just as a batter of flour, butter, and sugar makes a cookie, a batter of minerals makes a rock.” Sylvia Long’s illustrations, which include many rocks identified throughout (including an identical vast array on both the first and last spreads—without labels in the front and labeled in the back), are so lifelike that it seems almost possible to pick the rocks up off the page.

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