These Rocks Count! (These Things Count!) - Hardcover

Formento, Alison

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807578703 ISBN 13: 9780807578704

Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company, 2014

Synopsis

Mr. Tate's class is about to learn there's more to rocks than being dirty lumps on the ground. On this field trip they're visiting the rocky ridge mountains to learn about rocks. At first the children think rocks will be boring, but they soon learn that rocks are all around us in ways we might not expect―such as glass and toothpaste!

About this title

About the Authors

Alison Formento grew up in Arkansas and now lives in New Jersey with her family. She's climbed trees, camped under them, and planted some! Alison is also the author of These Bees Count! and These Rocks Count!

Sarah Snow is a collage artist who combines found papers, acrylics, and watercolors. She has also illustrated These Bees Count! and These Rocks Count! Sarah lives with her family in New York.

From the Back Cover

Mr Tate's class is about to learn there's more to rocks than being dirty lumps on the ground! Our earth needs rocks just as much as we do.

Reviews

K-Gr 3—Mr. Tate's class takes a ranger-led hike to explore the world of geology in this mediocre effort, which reads more like a series of disjointed facts about rocks than as a story. Ranger Pedra invites the children to "listen with our eyes and hands" to a boulder's story, and then, inexplicably, it "tells" a counting story. The items being counted, whether they are four mounds of salt, five turtle hatchlings moving over the sand, or ten panes of glass, are never explicitly connected to the rocks and have nothing to do with the boulder itself. Though the class discussion later touches briefly on the use of rocks and minerals in everyday products, the text fails to make critical connections. The bright, flat cartoon illustrations are appealing enough, and an afterword offers more background information on rocks, but overall the narrative fails to support its title.—Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MD

Mr. Tate and his class hike up Rocky Ridge Mountain with their guide, Ranger Pedra, who uses a hands-on approach to shift their attitudes from “Rocks are boring” to “Rocks rock!” Besides dispensing facts during their outing, she encourages them to sense the stories inside the rocks around them. The book’s middle section functions as a counting rhyme on forms and uses of rocks, from 1 sculptor carving stone to “10 panes of glass” in a new house. Attractive digital collage artwork illustrates the text. Though not as strong as its predecessors in Formento and Snow’s These Things Count! series, this picture book has classroom potential. Preschool-Grade 3. --Carolyn Phelan

Edition details

• Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0807578703
• ISBN 13: 9780807578704
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Snow Sarah
• Number of pages: 32