Most people recognize that it is more fun to read a story than to plow through a text-book! Usually however the objectives of the two genres are different: the story is for enjoyment and the text for learning. There have been many stories written, however, to communicate an important message. Charles Dickens’ novels like Great Expectations, for example, spring to mind. So it is with Michael and Beverly Oard’s book Uncovering the Mysterious Woolly Mammoth: Life at the End of the Great Ice Age.
Written as a sequel to Life in the Great Ice Age, this new title seems written for a slightly older reading audience than the first one. There is no need to read the first title however, to enjoy this one. The people in the story are very remote from us in time and distance, yet the story grips our interest as we follow two small communities who are dealing with climate change at the end of the ice age. Surprisingly conditions worsen as the ice melts and these small tribes struggle to survive multiple disasters.
All is revealed as we progress into Part II of the book. Here we learn that the effects of Noah’s flood led naturally to the ice age. And as the ice melted away many centuries later, there were extinctions of many large animals including the woolly mammoths. The climate evidently changed dramatically, and not for the better. This interpretation explains many observations such as the mysterious extinction of the mammoths and how we find their remains in places such as Northern Siberia.
The story catches our interest and the second section explains why and how such events could take place. It was all a logical aftermath of Noah’s flood. Learning about a serious issue has seldom been so painless. Written for junior high and older readers.
Michael and Beverly Oard. 2007. Uncovering the Mysterious Woolly Mammoth: Life at the End of the Great Ice Age. Master Books. Hardcover. Full Colour. 65 pages. $15.00
October 2012
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