This list of geology-themed picture books was curated by award-winning author Sandra Neil Wallace for The Children’s Book Review.
Rocks—earthly or extra-terrestrial—reveal true stories about our universe. Whether you’re a trailblazing geologist searching for meteorites in the coldest place on Earth or a child plucking the smoothest rock from a stream, geology is an exhilarating adventure. These six rock-themed true stories highlight the thrill of discovery and the knowledge to be unlocked in the rocky find.
A Rock Is Born: An Epic Journey Through Time
Written by Richard Ho
Illustrated by Lily Williams
Ages: 4-8 | 40 Pages
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press (2025) | ISBN-13: 978-1250749925
Bursting with dynamic prose and illustrations, A Rock Is Born focuses on the one-hundred-and-fifteen-million-year life cycle of one rock. From its lava spewing volcanic beginnings (“Forged in fire. Cooled by air.”) to a rock lining a mountain pathway at a national park, young readers will love spotting the rock on every page. Part of the journey is about following how it changes with time, just like the plant life, landscapes, and animals living around it through the ages. My favorite spread is of the rock being swept into the sea. Here, readers need to turn the book sideways to follow the rock’s fiery recreation as a “bumpy rock with speckles of many minerals.”
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A Stone Is a Story
Written by Leslie Barnard Booth
Illustrated by Marc Martin
Ages: 5-8 | 40 Pages
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books (2023) | ISBN-13: 978-1534496941
A perfect pairing with A Rock Is Born, this award-winning book continues the irresistible theme that rocks have much to tell us.
The story here is about what a rock has been before a child picks it up at the beach and examines it: magma and lava; root-wrenched and tumbled; ground into specks of sand, and back again.
Each spread is a spectacular work of fine art—a watercolor painting with its own story to tell.
Spare, riveting text incorporates alliteration and select rhyming, making A Stone Is a Story an ideal read aloud before spending the afternoon rock hunting or skipping stones at the beach.
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Caves
Written by Nell Cross Beckerman
Illustrated by Kalen Chock
Ages: 4-8 | 40 Pages
Publisher: Orchard Books (2022) | ISBN-13: 978-1338726626
Poetry beckons readers to turn the pages and explore “a hill with a hole. Beaconing black.” If they dare!
It’s an invitation too intriguing to resist, and with poems teasingly introducing a cave fact—such as dripping water—and narrative text explaining more, this interplay draws the reader in even further. Highlighting significant caves around the world that either reveal the history of early humans or spectacular nature, the stunning, life-like illustrations give the story a three-dimensional feel. Altogether, the award-winning book Caves gives readers a welcome, multi-sensory, geological experience.
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What a Rock Can Reveal: Where They Come From And What They Tell Us About Our Planet
Written by Maya Wei-Haas
Illustrated by Sonia Pulido
Ages: 6-9 | 48 Pages
Publisher: Phaidon Press (2024) | ISBN-13: 978-1838667900
The opening line of science writer and geologist Maya Wei-Haas’s book confirms what every young rock lover happily knows: “There’s no such thing as a boring rock.”
For any dubious reader, the engaging text and vibrant illustrations invite them to consider how even the tiniest pebble has a history. Filled with enticing geology facts, including glossy pages identifying a rainbow of minerals, to sections on how rocks reveal big blasts and mountain and sea adventures, What a Rock Can Reveal is sure to become a frequently read book treasured by family members of all ages. It’s an essential book to carry in your knapsack when going rock exploring.
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How the Meteorite Got to the Museum
Written and illustrated by Jessie Hartland
Ages: 6-9 | 40 Pages
Publisher: Blue Apple Books (2013) | ISBN-13: 978-1609052522
In the third installment of her plucky “Got to the Museum” series, Jessie Hartland describes how the Peekskill meteorite (a space rock) catapulted to Earth, smashed into a teenager’s red Chevy in Peekskill, New York, and ended up in the American Museum of Natural History.
Readers will enjoy sharing this irresistible story several times as they spot new details in Jessie’s signature cartoon illustrations. They’ll also find their own favorite characters in the cumulative refrain, from the firefighters who cool the smoldering meteorite, to the barking dog, the geologist who confirms it’s a meteorite, to the museum curator who places the specimen in the Hall of Meteorites, where school children visit it every year.
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Rock Star: How Ursula Marvin Mapped Moon Rocks and Meteorites
Written by Sandra Neil Wallace
Illustrated by Nancy Carpenter
Ages: 4-8 | 48 Pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books (2025) | ISBN-13: 978-1534493339
We know how a rock is born because of geologists like Ursula Marvin, who also helped us understand how our solar system began. In this biography of a trailblazing yet unsung giant in geology, Ursula explores the extra-terrestrial—lunar rocks that astronaut Neil Armstrong brings back from the moon—unlocking the origin stories of its cratered surface. Years later, as the first woman to search for meteorites in Antarctica, Ursula hopes to find a moon meteorite, but the chances are minuscule.
Yet her team discovers the first known lunar meteorite on Earth! The science-changing Antarctica find may be the most astounding rock story yet, fueling budding geologists to follow in Ursula’s footsteps and become a geologist explorer—one of the most exciting jobs on Earth.
★“A luminous tribute befitting a brilliant trailblazer.” – Kirkus Reviews
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Sandra Neil Wallace is a former ESPN reporter and the first woman to host an NHL broadcast on national TV. She writes about trailblazers and is the author of BETWEEN THE LINES: HOW ERNIE BARNES WENT FROM THE FOOTBALL FIELD TO THE ART GALLERY, illustrated by Bryan Collier, which won the NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction, and MARJORY SAVES THE EVERGLADES, a CBC/NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book, illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon. Sandra’s newest title is the star reviewed ROCK STAR: HOW URSULA MARVIN MAPPED MOON ROCKS AND METEORITES, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter (Simon & Schuster, A Paula Wiseman Book, OCT 14, 2025). Visit Sandra online at SandraNeilWallace.com.
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Sandra Neill Wallace curated the article Six Stellar Geology-Themed Picture Books. For similar books and articles, follow along with our content tagged with Geology, Rocks, and Nature.
