Stone Wall Secrets

by Kristine Thorson, Robert Thorson, Gustav Moore (Illustrator)

Overview

What can the rocks in old stone walls tell us about how the earth's crust was shaped, melted by volcanoes, carved by glaciers, and worn by weather? And what can they tell us about earlier people on the land and the first settlers? As Adam and his grandfather work together to repair the family farm's old stone walls, Adam learns how fascinating geology can be, and how the everyday landscape provides intriguing clues to the past.

Stone Wall Secrets also shows positive family dynamics between different generations and different races in an adoptive family. Gus Moore's richly detailed paintings are the perfect complement to a story full of imagery and wonder.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780884482291
Publisher:	Tilbury House Publishers
Publication date:	10/01/2001
Series:	Tilbury House Nature Book Series
Edition description:	Story with geology facts
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.20(d)
Lexile:	620L (what's this?)
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Kristine H. Thorson’s interests in teaching, learning, language, and culture sent her to live, work, and study around the world, but she feels most at home in New England surrounded by stone walls.

Robert M. Thorson is a journalist, scientist, and award-winning author. His love of stone walls began when he stumbled upon an abandoned wall during a walk in the woods in 1984, shortly after arriving to teach geology at the University of Connecticut. Professor Thorson enjoys coordinating the Stone Wall Initiative and sharing his knowledge of the historic New England landscape.

Gustav Moore grew up on a farm in Whitefield, Maine, and graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a degree in illustration. He has illustrated eight children’s books. He lives in Portland, Maine.

Editorial Reviews

...imagine a unit on walls, complete with geology, history, art, and geography. Consider pairing this book with such titles as Frances
Weller's luminous Matthew Wheelock's Wall (1992), Leonard Fisher's monolithic The Great Wall of China (1986, both Macmillan), and Margy
Knight's Talking Walls (1992) and Talking Walls: The Stories Continue
(1996, both Tilbury House), perhaps introduced by a reading of Frost's poem, "Mending Walls."

Patricia Manning

This elegantly designed book has an intriguing premise but loses its potential in a scattered focus and overburdened text. As the story opens, Adam's grandfather mulls over a difficult proposition: a stonemason's letter offers him an attractive sum for the rocks that compose the walls surrounding his New England farmstead. As Adam and his grandfather deliberate while walking the grounds, Grampa attempts to awaken in his grandson an affection for these stones as living history: "The walls were like a library, stacked high with earthen books." However, the authors soon bury any semblance of a story under layers of geologic, anthropological and familial information. The well-meaning text devolves into an environmental treatise, eschewing narrative credibility (e.g., Adam "slipped the grainy, white stone into his pocket, like a paperback book to be read on a rainy day"). Unfortunately, the pictorial representations of the grandfather's visions which imply his nearly mystical connection to rocks do little to lighten things up. First-timer Moore's illustrations, defined by ink lines and subtle colors, are mostly stiff and static, and often miss opportunities to clarify the text. Ages 8-12. (July) FYI: An 80-page teacher's guide is scheduled for release in August ($8.95 ISBN -196-4).

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 3-5-A grandfather gives his grandson a lesson in geology, history, and family pride as they examine the stone walls defining his New England farmstead. From shale formed beneath prehistoric seas to the campfires of Paleoindians to the oxen teams and stone sleds of the European pioneers and his own boyhood, the elderly man gently presents a panorama spanning eons, rounded off with his family memories. Often filling two pages, the colorful, realistic paintings provide a clear picture of past and present as the pair try to decide if they should accept a stonemason's offer to buy the walls for reconstruction elsewhere. Rather didactic in tone, the book has a teacher's guide (subtitled Exploring Geology in the Classroom) by geologist Ruth Deike. While there is plenty here for inquiring minds, casual readers may be few, but imagine a unit on walls, complete with geology, history, art, and geography. Consider pairing this book with such titles as Frances Weller's luminous Matthew Wheelock's Wall (1992), Leonard Fisher's monolithic The Great Wall of China (1986, both Macmillan), and Margy Knight's Talking Walls (1992) and Talking Walls: The Stories Continue (1996, both Tilbury House), perhaps introduced by a reading of Frost's poem, "Mending Walls."-Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY

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