Caves and Caverns: A Safe and Exciting Spelunking Adventure for Kids

by Gail Gibbons

Here is a fascinating journey through those dark, mysterious hollow places on earth--sea caves, lava caves, ice caves, and more. Caves and Caverns also includes information on where to go, what to bring, and how to have a safe, exciting spelunking adventure of your own. “This title will be enjoyed by budding scientists and explorers.”-- School Library Journal

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Picture Books, Childrens, Nature, Geography, 2nd Grade

32 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1993

About the author

From gailgibbons.com: I was born in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1944. Even as a little child, I was always busy putting books together. Sometimes I would bind them with yarn to hold the pages together. I've always loved drawing and painting. I was also a very curious child. My parents tell me that I was always asking lots and lots of questions.

Later, I went on to the University of Illinois, where I studied graphic design. Then I moved to New York City, where I got a job doing artwork for television shows. Eventually I was asked to do the artwork for a children's show. While doing that show, some of the children asked me if I had ever thought of doing children's books. My mind immediately recalled how much I enjoyed doing that type of thing when I was a child. So I put an idea for a book together and right away a publisher bought it. That book was called Willy and His Wheel Wagon. Since then, over 170 books that I have written and illustrated have been published. The type of books I write are non-fiction books. This is because I love researching so much. I get to ask lots of questions, just like when I was a kid. I also get to travel and meet lots of interesting people. While doing research for my book Nature's Green Umbrella: Tropical Rain Forests, I traveled to two islands where there are tropical rain forests, Saba and Dominica. I also had a great time writing and illustrating the book. I get a lot of pleasure from doing the type of work I do.

Reviews

[AMY · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gives great information on caves and caverns. The illustrations are colorful and helpful to a reader. There are lots of labels and information boxes. At the end there is a fact page with additional information. I think kids would enjoy this one. Highly recommended for Grades 3-5.

[R.J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didactic. Nicely illustrated.

[The Campbell Family · Rating 5 out of 5]

We used this book to supplement our Caves badge for Frontier Girls. It's the perfect overview of what a cave is, and the different types of caves that exist. Good illustrations that were easy to compare to the cave we visited in TN.

[M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a good read.

[Libby In Libraryland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gail Gibbons is very often awesome, and this example of her work did not disappoint me. It makes me want to go spelunking! I love that she talks about how caves form, formations inside caves, the different zones, creatures that live in caves, people that may have lived in caves, and good things to know if you want to go spelunking. It really is something I've always wanted to do, so I just need a book that gets into some more specific instructional tips, but that might not be available for kids at this age level.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

We used this in our study of, can you believe it, caves. I know, we're weird.

Anyways, this book was great. It presented the material clearly and had nice illustrations to help them further understand. After reading it they spent hours drawing pictures of all sorts of caves and caverns.

You could easily spend several days/weeks going through the information here and expanding it with further books, activities and pictures.

[Heathert · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting a factual introduction to caves and their continence. Caves and Caverns is a great resource for teachers when teaching their students about the subject. It even includes some basic safety tips for spelunking (cave exploring).

[Colleen]

From Sea to Shining Sea - unit 5
Leveled Books - Intermediate