Summary: Sand to Stone illustrates the life cycle of sandstone for curious young minds. Open these pages to discover the amazing shapes, colors, and textures natural forces have left behind in the Desert Southwest.
Sand to Stone wasn't exactly what I was expecting and to be honest, at first I didn't like it. However I've had a month to review it even more and have come to realize I wasn't being fair when I read the book the first time. For one, I misunderstood the age range of the book. I sometimes forget that picture books aren't just for young children. The author's website says Ages 6-12 but Amazon.com says ages 9-12.
Unless your child is REALLY into sandstone, this book isn't one that you'd buy for your child to read on their own. This is more of a book for teachers or homeschool parents to use with their children. As you can probably tell based on the ages, this would be good for children in grades 4-7.The author Nancy Bo Flood and photographer Tony Kuyper did and awesome job together. The text is lyrical:
"Sometimes I am a desert, a soft dune resting, or a tough old butte."
"Crash! Slabs of stone slide off cliffs, change walls into caves, alcoves, or arches."
The photographs are breathtaking as you can see from the photos included in this post. These photos are Copyright Tony Kuyper and are used with permission. These are the actual photos, before they were cropped for the book.
Links of Interest: Nancy Bo Flood (author), Tony Kuyper (photographer),
Other Reviews: (in this case, others participating in tour)
SMS Book Reviews, Never Jam Today, SmallWorld Reads, Our Big Earth Media Co., Whispers of Dawn, Cafe of Dreams, The Hungry Readers, My Own Little Corner of the World, Dolce Bellezza, KidzBookBuzz.com
Buy Sand to Stone and Back Again from Amazon.com and support KidsBookBuzz!
