Children’s Books

Boy of the Painted Cave by Justen Denzel

• Fiction, grade 6 or ages 9-14
• This is a story about a boy who yearns to paint during Paleolithic Europe

Kokopelli’s Flute by Will Hobbs

• Fiction, age 9-13
• This is a story inspired by petroglyphs of Kokopelli on canyon walls, but the story does not center around rock art, but the figure of Kokopelli, set in the present in the Southwest.

Native American Rock Art, Messages from the Past  

• By Yvette La Pierre and Illustrated by Lois Sloan, ISBN 1-56566-064-1
• Ages: Primary to Adult, Non-fiction.
• The text which is written for young readers is enhanced by beautiful illustrations and photographs.  Chapters include:  Introduction, The First Americans, Images on Stone, Making the Rocks Talk, How Old Is It? Deciphering the Stones, Vanishing Rock Art, and Rock Art Sites to Visit.

Stories in Stone, Rock Art Pictures by Early Americans

• By Caroline Arnold and Photos by Richard Hewett, ISBN 0-395-72091-5
• Ages:  Primary to Adult, Non-Fiction.
• The text and photographs are about Little Petroglyph Canyon in the Coso Range of the Mojave Desert which is on NAWS at China Lake, California and has guided tours through the Maturango Museum in Ridgecrest, California.

Messages on Stone, Selections of Native Western Rock Art

• By William Michael Stokes and William Lee Stokes
• Copyright 1980, Starstone Publishing Co.
• Ages:  Primary to Adult.This paperback book describes the difference between pictographs and petroglyphs and techniques of production.  The booklet is then divided into categories of images and drawings of images, for example:  apparel and adornment, birds, hands, feet, etc.

Grand Canyon, A Trail Through Time

• By Linda Vieira and Illustrated by Christopher Canyon
• ISBN 0-8027-7569-1, Fiction.
• Ages: Primary to Adult
• This is a “picture book” that describes the grandeur of the scenery, geologic history in the rock layers, and the traces left behind by the Havasupai and Anasazi.  While not directly about rock art, it has images on several pages and gives a context of its making.

Cactus Poems

• By Frank Asch, author, and Ted Levin, photographer
• ISBN-13:  9780152006761
• Ages:  Primary to Adult
• This is a collection of poetry with outstanding color photographs that celebrate ”the odd and awesome aspects of the four North American Deserts:  the Sonoran, the Mojave, the Great Basin, and the Chihuhuan.”  Pages 19-20 has a poem entitled “Magic Rocks” about petroglyphs with photos from Arizona and New Mexico to accompany it.

Stones, Bones and Petroglyphs  

• By Susan E. Goodman  photographs by Michael J Doolittle
• Ages:  Primary to Adult
• Antheum Books for Young Readers
• New York, New York    1998
• This book has great comprehensive text with photos.

On the Edge of Magic: Petroglyphs and Rock Paintings of the Ancient Southwest

• By Salvatore Mancini
• Chronicle Books, San Francisco, CA    1996
• Poems and photos  (K-12)
  

 
Teacher’s Educational Guides and Materials

• A lesson to supplement the Nov/Dec 2001 issue of DIG magazine.
  
• This complete curriculum is from British Columbia and covers grades K-10. In this lesson plan 1st graders create their own rock art.
• A beautifully designed curriculum for Southern California rock art.
• Boy of the Painted Cave by Justen Denzel resource guide
  

• Boy of the Painted Cave can be the center of a thematic unit on Early Man in the sixth grade in CA by linking other activities to it.  Students can make their own paintbrushes from natural supplies, paint or draw cave art with chalk, design their own images.  Examples of Paleolithic art can be found in books from the library, by searching images on the web, and education stores sometimes sell posters.  Creating a classroom cave or corner cave with crumpled brown butcher paper helps set a good tone as the book nears its end.

• Intrigue of the Past, Investigating Archaeology

• A Teacher’s Activity Guide for Fourth through Seventh Grades
• By Shelley J. Smith, Jeanne M. Moe, Kelly A. Letts, and Danielle M. Paterson
• This is an interdisciplinary study with reproducible activity sheets for classroom use.  This was an effort of the State of Utah, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), National Park Service, and the U.S. Forest Service.  It covers for sections:  Fundamental Concepts, Utah’s First People, Process of archaeology, and Issues of Archaeology.  Contact:  BLM, Utah State Office, P.O. Box 45155, Salt Lake City, Utah  84145-0155.

• Education Word Search Puzzle

• California state education standards with a bearing on teaching about rock art
• Background on Rock Art of Texas
• Background on Rock Art, especially California
  
• Background on Rock Art of Wyoming