Editorial Review
What Are Metamorphic Rocks? - Children's Literature

Metamorphic rocks are created from intense heat, such as lava. Aloian takes the reader through the origins of metamorphic rock, especially natural features created through the shifting of the Earth’s tectonic plates. The Himalayas, for example, were formed after the continents of Asia and India collided with each other. Aloian does a yeoman’s job of providing information and insight into the process of metamorphic rocks. While younger readers may not grasp the more complicated ideas and words—foliated versus non-foliated metamorphic rocks or the different types of metamorphism, for example—the pictures, fact boxes, and chemistry recipes will delight future geologists. Aloian provides several real-life examples that provide a nice intersection between social studies and geology. For example, she devotes time to explaining the uses of slate, which was used for blackboards in schools and is currently used on roofs. Other sections include the uses for granite and gneiss, the uses of marble, and the different grades of rock. This is an accurate and reasonably priced addition to those teaching earth science or geology. It is part of the “Let’s Rock” series from Crabtree.