Secrets of the Stone

Pursuing Jackrabbit one day, Coyote and Badger discover a strange and secret cave, one with mysterious figures painted on the wall. Soon all of their animal friends have gathered, and they gaze on these images, interpreting them in various ways, from depictions of their ancestors to attempts to speak to the spirit world. Falling asleep beside the fire the animals light in the cave, Coyote dreams he has traveled back in time to the period when the cave art made made, witnessing the animals and human figures depicted there in real life...

Published in 2000, Secrets of the Stone is the seventh and final picture book from author/artist Harriet Peck Taylor, and the sixth I have read. I had to request it through interlibrary loan, as I am show more particularly interested in this creator's artwork, and it is not available in my own library system. On the whole, I found it very engaging. Needless to say, I enjoyed the lovely batik artwork, with the gorgeous color scheme and the charming stylized figures. Each two-page spread features a full-page illustration on the left-hand page and a white page with text and a decorative border on the right-hand one. The folk style of the painting was very appealing to me. The story itself was interesting, and I appreciated the inclusion of the theme of cave art (or parietal art), although I think I would have preferred to learn a little bit more about it. There is a brief afterward from the author, giving more information about the rock art of the American Southwest, but incorporating more discovery into the story would have been more satisfying, I think. T.A. Barron did this very well in his Ghost Hands, an exploration of the Cave of Hands, in Argentina. Despite this critique, I do think this one has merit, as an introduction to the idea of cave art, especially in the American Southwest. I would recommend it for that purpose, as well as to fellow admirers of the artist. Perhaps it could be paired with Barron's book, or with Hannah Salyer's excellent Ancestory: The Mystery and Majesty of Ancient Cave Art. show less

This book is about a badger and a coyote chasing a jackrabbit and leading up in a cave. This is a great book to teach young children about ancient times and introducing them to pictographs and petroglyphs.