Stone Age Boy is the story of a young boy (about 10 y/o) who tripped while walking in the woods one day and fell. He fell so far down that he ended up in the Stone Age. Upon waking and wandering out of a cave the boy sees a girl about his age, but she looks different than most of the girls he knows. The girl is intrigued by this strange boy and take him back to her village. In the village, the boy discovers that these people don't have plastic or metal, only stone, wood. and animal skins. The boy is put to work and is taught how to do many things using Stone Age tools. He learns to fish and hunt. He even has an encounter with a bear while his friend show him the villagers' cave paintings. The boy eventually ends up back in his time and discovers a passion for archaeology. He never forgot his Stone Aged friend and the boy grew up to be an archaeologist. This book is good for younger grades. ( )

Summary: Centered around a fictitious main character, the age of intended audience. The book tells the history of how life was like in the stone age. From using stones to form spears to using them to cook. The pictures are very well done and can tell the story without the use of text.

Personal Reaction: It gives the student an idea of life without modern technology. Helps them form ideas of people and why they made the tools they did. Necessity is the father of invention.

Extension Ideas: Brainstorm ideas as a class of what kinds of things we need today and then have students in groups create a tool that has a purpose today. Out of simple craft items. Does not have to have use just the idea. Then have students write about it as a group what is it? Do people continue to use it? How many possible uses does it have?

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I can't really say what it is about Kitamura's illustration style that makes me like it so much, but I do. Whether it's The Comic Adventures of Boots or Me and My Cat it's a world unto itself between cartoon and watercolor illustration, a controlled playfulness that's as expressive as it is equally fun.

Stone Age Boy is another world altogether, literally. A boy goes exploring and falls down a hole landing in a cave during one of man's more primitive eras on the planet. From the looks of both the people and their way of life the boy has found himself in a Scandinavian fishing village befriended by a girl who goes by the name Om. After regarding each other's appearance as odd they take the boy into their society and show him their ways. They dry fish, they hunt, Om and boy play as kids and help out as needed, and at night around the fire when the others sing and dance the boy plays his air guitar. One day he and Om enter a cave and discover it full of paintings, stories of previous hunts, and a bear. Along the way he loses Om and re-emerges into his own time. In the book's coda we see the boy as an adult archaeologist digging back into the past, searching for his link back to another time, searching for traces of Om and her village.

A natural progression for younger readers who might have moved beyond the novelty of the dinosaur and want to know more about how one goes about digging up and studying the past, the information is both accessible and not in the least bit "teach-y". Where most of the illustrations are full-page or full-spread there are a few spreads with smaller illustrations full of details about life in the village that feel cramped and just a bit too small. If these informational pages had been larger and maybe expanded over a few pages I think it would made a huge difference between a good book and a great one for me.

I like this more serious side of Kitamura, I don't think I'd mind seeing more. ( )