Talking Rocks and Minerals - Perfect Picture Book Friday #PPBF

Maria Marshall
Jul 4
4 min read

Do you like rocks? When you find some unusually shaped or strangely combined rocks, ever wish you could ask them "what" they are? Well, in this fun picture book, Ace reporter Pebble does just that. Getting some fun scoop on the creation and location of some fascinating rocks. Even kids you might not have discovered the joy of rock hunting (yet) will giggle and tumble for this book. It's a basket full of rock puns and cool geology facts.

Book cover - Granite, Amethyst, & Marble (with eyes and eyebrows) stand in front of a pebble carrying a notepad & pencil.

Talking Rocks and Minerals

Author: Paige Towler

Illustrator: Matthew Carlson

Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap/ Penguin Random House (July 1, 2025)

Ages: 6-9

Informational Fiction

Themes:

Geology, humor, earth science, and comics.

Synopsis:

For fans of Ricky, the Rock That Couldn’t Roll comes a delightful nonfiction picture book told from the perspective of rocks—offering a fun and informative view of geology, straight from the source.

Let’s talk rocks. No, let’s let rocks talk!

Pebble the Rock Reporter is ready to interview a whole host of rocks and minerals to get the scoop on the fundamentals of geology.

Rocks and minerals have lots to tell us, and they are ready for their close-up!

Explaining how different rocks and gemstones form from minerals, this quirky nonfiction picture book is full of fun facts and puns galore—a great gift for any young rock collector or rock lover. Rock on!

Opening Lines:

"Hi, I'm Pebble.

I'm in constant conversation with the gems

of geology. The rock stars rocking the rock

world. The minerals making the mentions."

Do you know what makes rocks rock?

Ace reporter Pebble is perfectly qualified

to bring you the inside scoop.

Why? Like every rock, pebbles are made of

MINERALS, or simple materials that make up

the Earth. So, what are you waiting for? It' time

to talk rocks-er, let those rocks talk.

What I LOVED about this book:

Okay, first off, Pebble is an adorable character! I love the idea of an intrepid rock reporter getting the inside scoop about being a rock or mineral. And Matthew Carlson created the cutest lightly cartoonish character! And if you can't guess from the above opening snippet, you are in for a very punny & alliterated journey. Paige Towler mined deep for a book load of rock puns. Throughout the book, Pebble's notebook pages feature spot photos of real fossils, rocks, and gems (such as Amethyst, Emerald, and a Fossil below) intermixed with bold and colorful fun digital illustrations.

Internal spread - a small rock, holding a pencil and a notebook strolls down a grassy slope dotted with yellow poppies, white flowers, and white and grey boulders.

Loaded with lots of geologic terms (such as igneous rocks, magma, intrusive, & extrusive), this lightly comic styled and super engaging picture book explores each "interviewee's" origin story and some characteristics of their 'relatives.' For instance, a brief blurb explains the difference between two igneous rocks - granite (intrusive) and obsidian (extrusive). The rock's personalities and tons of puns make uncovering geology lots of fun.

Internal spread - on the upper left, Pebble, holding a camera with a notebook and pencil at his feet, talks to a slab of granite. Bottom left has a three-step comic graphic of granite forming from a magma pocket. On the right, Granite is resting, while Pebble takes notes. A page from the notebook has photos of granite and obsidian rocks and tools a hammer and arrowhead made from each rock.

Pebble continues to explore and interview sedimentary rocks (coal & limestone), geodes and their crystals (especially amethysts), metamorphic rocks (marble & gneiss), the rock cycle, and gems. I love the addition of Pebble's hard hat, during the explorations in caves. As well as the switch to a pair of dark glass & a microphone for a rocking party surrounded by a bevy of dazzling gems. And it was cool to learn that diamonds actually come in 12 colors - not just white!

Internal spread (divided into panels) - top left, Pebble, wearing hard hat and writing in his journal looks for diamond, whose hiding behind a rock. Bottom left, Diamond jumps out dazzling. top right, a clump of black carbon is heated on a red background as a rocky surface covers diamond. Middle - an arrow points from a rough rock to a dazzling diamond. A sidebar graphic disputes myth of diamonds being caused by lightning strikes and that diamonds come in 12 colors. Bottom right, diamond talking to Pebble in the cave.

After Pebble interviews pyrite (in a prospector hat), a dinosaur fossil (in a safari hat), and a couple of asteroids and meteorites, the narration notes that "there are always more rocks to discover" and Pebble "signs off for now," leaving it wide open for a sequel. [Which was hinted at in Monday's interview with Paige and Matthew!] A lightly illustrated glossary, a "note from a geologist," and more information combine with a "Be A Rock Hound!" activity section which encourages kids to discover and fall in love with being a "rocking rock expert." This is a wonderful introductory picture book sure to encourage kids to get excited about rock, minerals, and geology.

Resources:

create your own rock collection and record the rocks or minerals you find. Some ideas found are (here) and(here).

draw some of your rocks as if they are characters in the book interviewed by Pebble. Can you come up with some funny puns for them?

pair this with some fun books on geology and rocks - Grand Canyon by Jason Chin, Ultimate Rockopedia: The Most Complete Rocks & Minerals Reference Ever by Steve Tomecek, What a Rock Can Reveal: Where They Come From And What They Tell Us About Our Planet by Maya Wei-Haas, illustrated by Sonia Pulido, and (slightly older) Outdoor School: Rock, Fossil, and Shell Hunting: The Definitive Interactive Nature Guide by Jennifer Swanson, illustrated by John D. Dawson.

If you missed my interview with Paige Towler and Matthew Carlson on Monday, find it (here).

This post is part of a series of blog posts by authors and KidLit bloggers called Perfect Picture Book Fridays. For more picture book suggestions and resources see Susanna Leonard Hill's Perfect Picture Books.