This book is, just as the usual standard by Quarto Publishing Group - QEB, well designed, informative, and high quality! I know my rocks in another language, so it's great to get the same knowledge in English, if not just brushing up what I previously know, but perhaps learning a bit more than I had back in high school and middle school!

I'm very impressed, because prior to this book, most of my request from Quarto are illustration-based books with the occasional cookbooks. This is the first time I'm reading a book by them that is all with photography and subject matter not being food! Nicely done! The layout and image choices makes it very easy to read, even if the words could be less common, I believe this is a book that kids at a young age would be able to enjoy and appreciate. Well done!

We loved this book so much that we implemented it as part of our home schooling program! Wonderful to have reading and then be able to go outside and explore!

What a wonderful fun and engaging book! Rocks, fossils, minerals and gems are explained with simple text and big colorful photos. Learn about the different types of rocks, unique rock formations around the world, how fossils are formed, how minerals are used and why certain gems are so rare. This would make a great gift for a rock collecting child and a great addition to a classroom library.

Thank you Netgalley and Quarto Publishing Group - QEB for an advanced copy of this book.

I love collecting rocks. So, I enjoyed reading Rocks, Fossils, Minerals, and Gems. It is a basic book with simple information about all different types of rocks. The photos were great.

I will be having my nine and eleven-year-old kids read though this book.

Beautiful design with great photos and wonderful details. Youth interested in Rocks, Fossils, Minerals and Gems will enjoy this book. It is also great to have in the classroom for extra study.

Rocks, Fossils, Minerals, and Gems is a nonfiction intro to mineralogy aimed at young readers (elementary - middle school). Author Claudia Martin has written numerous books on nonfiction subjects for young readers previously.
Published by Quarto - QEB, due out 18 July, 2018, it's 80 pages and available in paperback format.

The text is easy to follow and logically structured. The pictures are curated from many sources; there is a comprehensive credits list at the end of the book. Though the graphics are not original to this book, they do a good job of supporting and enriching the text.

This would make a good addition to a science library or classroom introductory unit on mineralogy for primary to early middle school readers. It's appealingly colorful and easy to understand. It must be understood that this is a very basic introduction to some of the terms and properties of minerals. The science is sound and the book is factually correct (with a lot of trivia). The book includes a very short glossary and photography credits, but no bibliography or resources for further reading.

Three and a half stars.

This is a great book for anyone that is interested in basic geology. It is easy to read and completely useful.

I learned so much from ROCKS, FOSSILS, MINERALS, AND GEMS, a truly beautiful guide. It explains why gems cost so much, mineral use, and the origins of rocks and their types, plus so much more. Highly recommended!

Grateful to the Quarto Publishing Group - QEB and NetGalley for the early copy, in exchange for my true review.

#Rocks,fossils,minerals,andGems #NetGalley

Rocks, Fossils, Minerals, and Gems is an excellent book for beginner rock hounds, or for us old rock enthusiasts to do a little brushing up. I am looking forward to reading the print version of this book as the photos look to be really special. This is a book I am happy to recommend to students and the curious as well.

I received a free electronic version of this excellent guide from Netgalley, Claudia Martin, and Quatro Publishing Group, QEB Publishing in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.

Once Over Lightly

When you have only eighty pages in which to cover rocks, fossils, minerals, and gems you don't have a lot of room for detail, and it's hard even to touch on the high points. That said, this book did a pretty good job of setting out some basic ideas, and the photos and drawings struck me as particularly well chosen.

As to rocks, we get a basic sense of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. Plate tectonics is referenced a few times but not explained. Fossils get a very quick once over, with the emphasis, as expected, on dinosaurs. Minerals can be tricky, and the book is at its best here, laying out a reasonably clear explanation of minerals, and displaying a wide range of crystals and their properties. This segues nicely into the final pages about gems, which are especially clearly addressed.

The upshot is that this struck me as a reasonable early intro to the field for a budding rockhound. Certainly as a rock-mineral-gem picture book it succeeded admirably. The tone is upbeat and the captions and factoids seem designed to make a young reader feel welcome and to hold his or her interest. A nice nonfiction, earth sciences book for the younger set.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

My grandmother has an impressive collection of rocks, fossils, and more. The largest were displayed throughout her screened-in porch, and I spent many hours in my youth wandering from one to another, in awe of their differences as I tried to narrow down my favorites. Inside, she had her smaller but no less interesting specimens.

Needless to say, I began a small collection when I was young, primarily limited to special rocks found on trips (I remember one particular camping excursion where I spent hours outside examining rocks -- they were all treasures to me, but my parents wisely insisted I narrow down my finds to a reasonable number). My girls have also begun little collections of their own, and my older daughter has been gifted some fossils from a family friend and part of my grandmother's collection.

I admit my knowledge about rocks is limited (especially demonstrated in my tendency to lump everything into the category of rock). The book Rocks, Fossils, Minerals, and Gems is jam-packed with facts, photographs, and illustrations. It visually draws you in and has short sections on a variety of topics; "Strange Shapes" highlights large specimens like sandstone arches or the Grand Canyon. "Famous Jewels" was a favorite of mine, elaborating on the highest price at auction, the biggest heist, and the notable Crown Jewels.

Included are suggestions on rock art and tips for hunting fossils and minerals. Facts abound, including details on how most watches work (quartz crystals shake at regular intervals when electricity passes through them, so the battery sends charges to a small quartz embedded in the watch machinery).

At the close of the book is a useful pictoral guide, where images are divided by type (rocks, fossils, minerals, and gems).

My older daughter has a rocks and minerals guide, and while not to disparage it, it's aimed at adults, so while it's content heavy, it's not as engaging as this text is. This is an excellent introductory text and should pull in young readers with the friendly layout (small blocks of text interspersed with frequent images).

I received a free digital ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

When I got this book a few days ago I was very excited. Back when I was a kid I used to collect rocks/stones/etc., so this one brought some nice nostalgia feeling back. And now that I am reading How to Marry A Werewolf I was even more invested in this book as our MC (Faith) collects rocks and knows a ton about them.

This was a very interesting book to read. As the title already says it will feature Rocks, fossils, minerals, and gems. And yes the book is in that order as well. We start with rocks, rockformations, hoodoos, and more, then we go to fossils (and also dinosaurs and other extinct animals) and all about them, we then hop to minerals and what makes minerals minerals, a few deadly minerals (and their uses), and several other fun facts, and lastly we go to gems! Diamonds, rubies, robberies, how they are made, how they look when polished, and of course tons of other details. My favourite chapter would be the fossil one, with gems a close second.

You definitely won't be bored once while reading. The book is delightfully done with big, clear photographs, fun and short information parts/bubbles. I love how they do go in things deeper than most children's non-fiction, but still keep it easy and simple to understand.

I am definitely happy I got a chance to read this book, and I would recommend it to everyone.