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A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
High-stakes adventure meets cutting-edge anthropology in this true account of the groundbreaking discovery of Homo naledi, which shocked the world of evolutionary science and redefined what it means to be human, written for young readers by a Sibert Medalist and a nationally-recognized educator.
“Are you brave enough?” That’s what anthropologist Keneiloe Molopyane texted one of her graduate students, inviting her to join a dangerous underground search for a mysterious new human ancestor, Homo naledi. Would she dare to slide through the tight spaces and sheer drops of the Rising Star cave in South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind, to help unlock the secrets of a tiny chamber filled with literally hundreds of fossilized bones?
Join us as we follow the exciting explorations of Dr. Molopyane, along with six female excavators known as the Underground Astronauts, the dynamic, controversial leader Dr. Lee Berger, and others as they puzzle over the remains of this strange new species with much smaller brains than ours who may have buried their dead, made tools, used fire, and left markings on rocks. Guided by Sibert Medal–winner author Marc Aronson and teacher John S. Mead, whose sixth-grade science class followed many stages of the exploration as it happened, Reading the Bones: Homo naledi and the Mysteries of Human Evolution is real science in real time. Packed with drawings, maps, and a variety of resources, this is a thrilling introduction to scientific explorers on the front lines of the hunt for connections between humans and our primate relatives and ancestors.
Are you ready to join the quest?
Marc Aronson
Marc Aronson is the acclaimed author of Trapped: How the World Rescued 33 Miners from 2,000 Feet Below the Chilean Desert, which earned four starred reviews. He is also the author of Rising Water: The Story of the Thai Cave Rescue and Sir Walter Ralegh and the Quest for El Dorado, winner of the ALA’s first Robert F. Sibert Award for nonfiction and the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award. He has won the LMP award for editing and has a PhD in American history from New York University. Marc is a member of the full-time faculty in the graduate program of the Rutgers School of Communication and Information. He lives in Maplewood, New Jersey, with his wife, Marina Budhos, and sons. You can visit him online at MarcAronson.com.
More by Marc Aronson
John S Mead
John S. Mead has been awarded the John H. Murrell Excellence in Teaching Award (St. Mark's School of Texas), the National Association of Biology Teachers Outstanding Biology Teacher Award for the State of Texas, the inaugural Evolution Teaching Award from the Teacher Institute of Evolutionary Studies (TIES), and the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) Evolution Education Award. John serves as a science advisor for the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas and is the only K12 member of the Education Board of the American Association of Biological Anthropologists. In 2019, John was selected to be a Teacher Ambassador for the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) as they sought to expand their classroom influence related to topics of evolution and climate change. He has served as President of the Texas Association of Biology Teachers.
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