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Ho, Richard

A Rock Is Born: An Epic Journey Through Time

40 pp. | Roaring Brook | July, 2025 | Trade ISBN 9781250749925 $19.99 | Ebook ISBN 9781250438744 $11.99
(2) K-3 Illustrated by Lily Williams. The drama begins on the cover of this “epic” geological picture book, with the lead-in above the title: “Over one hundred million years ago, on the side of a mountain...” By opening with a smoking volcano and delaying the title page until the third spread, the book creates a cinematic sense of suspense. Minimalist text distills the complex scientific geological processes of the more-than-one-hundred-million-year life cycle of a rock, from a volcanic eruption 115 million years ago, through formation and transformation over geologic time, to the present day, when a diverse group of park-goers observes a small rock by the side of a mountain. While the main text offers concise narration (“Dirt piles up. Plants and animals, too. Layers push down”), the back matter expands on the intricate processes. Williams’s bold-lined, color-saturated digital illustrations heighten the geological spectacle. She showcases the red-hot, fluid lava in one scene and in another forces readers to turn the book on its side, accentuating the rock’s splash into the deep, swirling sea. More ­instructive illustrative techniques, such as cross sections and ­cutaways, highlight how the layers of the earth press down to form new rocks. In ­conclusion, per the back matter, “Who knows what stories [rocks] will tell in the future?” Sources are appended.
Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2025

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