This offers a lively way into Earth science: children can learn what fossils are, how they form and what they can reveal, with unusual examples and practical activities making the topic more tangible.
The book explains how fossils form and what they teach about prehistoric life, including trace fossils and amber.Exploratory / explanatoryExploratory / explanatory: the book explains or explores the subject without an established evaluative position.Exploratory / explanatory: the book explains or explores the subject without an established evaluative position.
How the book presents it: Fossils are presented as evidence that can help readers investigate earlier life and geological processes.
Talk about: How does the book distinguish between different kinds of evidence?
Investigating the natural world
Readers explore where fossils are found and use activities alongside explanations of fossil-related processes.Exploratory / explanatoryExploratory / explanatory: the book explains or explores the subject without an established evaluative position.Exploratory / explanatory: the book explains or explores the subject without an established evaluative position.
How the book presents it: The approach encourages looking closely at natural evidence and connecting ideas with practical investigation.
Talk about: What might an activity help you notice that a written explanation does not?
People who study fossils
The book introduces famous fossil hunters as part of its account of fossils and prehistoric life.Exploratory / explanatoryExploratory / explanatory: the book explains or explores the subject without an established evaluative position.Exploratory / explanatory: the book explains or explores the subject without an established evaluative position.
How the book presents it: Including fossil hunters may broaden the topic from objects and processes to the people involved in discovery.
Talk about: Whose work is included, and how are their discoveries described?
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Why It May Be Worth Reading
Its main appeal is the blend of factual explanation and playful presentation. It can support curiosity about prehistoric life while connecting fossils with where they are found and the work of fossil hunters.
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What Deserves Attention
Some children may want help with specialist ideas such as trace fossils, amber and the processes involved in fossil formation. Pause to check meanings rather than assuming the cartoons make every concept simple.
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A Conversation Worth Having
Which clues might help you work out what happened to a living thing before its remains became a fossil, and what might different fossil types tell us?
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Reading Approach
Browse the illustrations and jokes first, then read the explanations in short sections. Try the activities together, inviting the child to explain each fossil type in their own words.
Confidence & Basis
Theme indicators describe how the book presents a topic; they are not a verdict on the whole book or your family's values. Confidence reflects how much book-specific material was checked. Only part of the book information was available, so some details remain unconfirmed.
What remains unconfirmed
Reading fossils as evidence: The available detail does not show how uncertainty or competing interpretations are handled.
Investigating the natural world: The specific activities, materials and instructions are not established.
People who study fossils: No names, biographies or treatment of their achievements are established.
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