Cave Detectives: Unraveling the Mystery of an Ice Age Cave

by David L. Harrison, Ashley Mims (Illustrator)

What was life like millions of years ago? The answer lies deep underground, in a place once home to a ferocious predator much larger than most animals walking around today. Through photographs and detailed illustrations, readers will learn how the secrets buried in a midwestern hillside helped scientists understand early life on Earth. This book's simple but informative format allows readers to follow along as paleontologist Matt Forir and his team of experts unravel a prehistoric mystery.

48 pages, Hardcover

First published April 26, 2007

Reviews

[Gretchen]

A fantastic non-fiction text. I am going to use this book as a keystone to our Earth Materials unit in science. This talks about how rocks are formed, hidden, discovered, etc. It will be great to get the students excited about the discovery of this cave and then link all the other rock and mineral information to questions that will surface. I love how this combines science, history, mystery, and detectives to show how exciting science and discoveries can be.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer]

I wish I could have been there when they discovered this cave! How exciting, to be entering a cave that no other human had ever entered, that no other creature had entered for thousands of years! Because the cave was sealed, the tracks and scratch marks in the clay look fresh, as if they were done yesterday. It's too bad that the road crew's explosion destroyed some of it. Riverbluff Cave will continue to be studied for years to come, and who knows what else they'll find? A note at the end of the book stated that, as the book was coming to press, 50 more feet of cave was discovered. Imagine what might be in there! I liked the way the book was written, chronicling the scientists' finds as they explored. However, I could have used less of the drawn illustrations and more of the photographs. Anyone who loves a good science detective story will love this one. Recommended!