Exploring the Ice Age [Hardcover]

Margaret Cooper (Author), Jean Vertut (Photographer)

Book Description

Put on your warmest parka, grab your time-travel shoes, and get ready to explore the Ice Age! As you step back to a time beginning some 35,000 years ago, you'll not only unearth ancient artifacts and bones and discover incredible works of art, you'll come up with ideas about how our early ancestors might have lived during this fascinating -- and chilly -- period.

As you learn more about the Ice Agers' way of life, you may be surprised by how cleverly they solved their problems. They sewed snug clothing and hunted big game, surviving very well in the icy climate! They also played musical instruments and, most remarkably, invented art.

Unearth their bones, sift through their trash piles, uncover their tools and hearths, delve into the darkness of their caves, and enter the fascinating world of the Ice Age!

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 5-8-This book deals with the most recent ice age and, more specifically, how early humans survived this period. Each chapter addresses an aspect of the lives of "Ice Agers" (as the author calls them) including their food, shelter, tools, hunting, clothing, and art. Although life throughout Europe during this period is touched upon, the author chiefly focuses on those who lived in the Dordogne region in southwestern France. Much of what is known about these people is speculation, based upon the fossil record, cave paintings, and a few artifacts. While the author is careful to separate fact from conjecture, and the chapters on art are particularly good, the book lacks sufficient background information. For instance, the differences between early humans and Neanderthals are only touched upon. Also, the book ends with surprising abruptness. Captioned line drawings, black-and-white photographs, and reproductions appear throughout, and there is an eight-page insert of color photos of cave art and artifacts. Overall, this is a more than adequate summary of humankind during the Ice Age that should prove useful for reports.

Todd Morning, Schaumburg Township Public Library, IL

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 5-8. Cooper's guided tour through the Ice Age begins with a look at the art in the caves at Lascaux. The author then discusses how people of the time dressed, ate, hunted, and housed themselves. A final chapter examines more fully the art that distinguished the period and gives the lie to the "caveman" stereotype. The text is uneven, mostly in terms of tone: it is sometimes awkwardly jaunty, as when Cooper compares Ice-Age people to cartoon cavemen. However, the information is solid, and much of the art is fascinating. Most of the pictures are executed or reproduced in black and white, but an eight-page color inset has handsome pictures of cave art. Most interesting are drawings of human faces carved in stone 1,500 years ago, which look like caricatures one sees being drawn by artists sitting on street corners today. A bibliography completes the useful package; no Web sites are included. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum; 1 edition (September 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689825560
• ISBN-13: 978-0689825569
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,258,463 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #60 in Books > Children's Books > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > Prehistory
  • #80 in Books > Children's Books > History > Prehistoric

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very detailed..., April 17, 2005

By 

Michael Valdivielso (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Exploring the Ice Age (Hardcover)

Few books for younger readers about the ice age get into so many details. Not only are there chapters about how ice age humans hunted and kept warm, but the book also examines why and how humans would need to keep track of time, what animals besides mammoths and other big game would have been on their menu and even a chapter exploring the many reasons they may have had to create art in the first place.
Full of photos and drawings, a great book that asks a lot of questions and gives some possible answers.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DISCOVER AN EXCEPTIONAL BOOK OF GREAT MERIT!!!, April 3, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Exploring the Ice Age (Hardcover)

Margaret Cooper has quickened the pulse & deepened the understanding for all of us fascinated by the Ice Age & our earliest human ancestors. In this lush book we can each become Ice Age travelers & prowl the caves, art, tools, & lives of an earlier, more mysterious world. We feel a sense of kinship with our early ancestors & marvel at their endurance & artistic imaginations. This book is certainly an educational tour de force! We are proud to have this in our teaching materials, & appreciate teachers & childrens responses to this valuable book!