Member Reviews
Thank you NetGalley and publishers for an ARC. All opinions are my own. I loved this book. Its a sweet story about a boy whose creativity and intelligence is beyond the teacher's expectations. I love this book as well as a mentor text when teaching research reports. Although fiction, it takes a great take on how fun researching can be! Looking forward to implementing this book in my class this year!! |
This was cute and I really loved the color palette of the art. It was a good read with my kiddo and husband while we are all stuck at home. |
A fun story, a little long for read-aloud, but good for independent reading, especially with the amount of detail in the illustrations. Louis is supposed to be doing an oral report about his pet, but the teacher is dubious when his report turns out to be about a previously unknown species of mammoth, the rock mammoth, predecessor of 1970s rock musicians. She allows him to continue, however, and soon the class is sucked into Louis' tale of researching and taking an expedition to find the illusive creature. His report is funny and engaging, and the artwork is great fun; the two aspects join to make a highly entertaining story that might inspire young scientific researchers to carry out their own expeditions (with a good supply of tomato and mayonnaise sandwiches on white bread, of course)! #RockMammoth #NetGalley |
It was a bit of tedious read with the story moving in too many directions. But there's lots of information, facts, and funny situations. The illustrations are nicely done and bring the story alive. |
The illustrations were poor, the story was long and rambling (despite only being 27 pages or so) and I was utterly bored while reading, not charmed or curious. The humour fell flat and I had a serious problem differentiating fact from fiction with regard to the mammoth facts so a kid is going to stand no chance. All in all, the book felt like a really bad trip and the first time I read it to my child would be the last time. I'm sorry to say, I cannot recommend at all. |
Vinamrata K, Educator
Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book. Though I liked the way book was written the content wasn’t all that great. A bit too long, too much of imagination which is out of context in the story and an ending that seems disappointing. Definitely not my choice of a book. Not sure of the age range this is intended for too. |
I was kinda disappointed in this one. I had high hopes because of the cover, which is what initially drew me in. I know my son loves animals, and we like to read these before bedtime. However, I found this crossed the line between real and fiction. A child like mine would have trouble discerning the truth from fact. He would take it all to heart. In my humble opinion, you should go one way, or the other. I have a child who is Autistic, and it’s hard to piece apart for a child, like mine, which is fact and fiction. We struggled with this. Although, the pictures were great, and I enjoyed the characters, that one issue ruined it for me. *Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a copy for my honest opinion. |
You won't know if you're reading fiction or nonfiction with this book. This story starts as a pretty credible class presentation about mammoths. Except of course, if you heard the word pet in front of the word mammoth. That's right Louis is going to educate everyone on a special variety of mammoth, the "rock" kind which apparently makes the best pet. With the perfect splash of scientific vocabulary this reminds you of what you love in a mockumentary. The speech bubbles and notebook paper give this picture book that little extra to push it over the top. Children ages 7 - 11 with laugh out loud while they read. |
This was a cute story, a little too much and too long for my daughter but I enjoyed it, especially the art style. |
Meena N, Reviewer
I found this book quite boring. I’m not sure if any child will understand it. It was distracting to me, so that makes me think a lot of kids would find it that way too. |
John L, Reviewer
Kids might well like this School Report of a Wimpy Kid on Acid, but it was too wacky for me. The copious asides to the narrator's family life, delaying and delaying the end of his class presentation until the whole thing has swallowed up recess, just delay what enjoyment there is with the bonkers ideas the book has about prehistoric mammoths and their rock music. Either way, it seemed weird for weird's sake too often. |
This book was a bit all over the place for me. I liked the illustrations, but there were a lot of sections that didn't have any words and that makes it a difficult book to read to a child. Additionally, there were other sections of the book that I just wanted things to move a lot quicker. I would recommend this for a specific type of child. I'm not sure this is a book for everyone. I was provided an advanced readers copy of this book for free. I am leaving my honest, unbiased review voluntarily. |
This is a cute but odd little kids' book about a boy who's going to be doing a presentation on rock mammoths. Those aren't real, BTW, although the book makes it sound as if they are. It's supposed to be a funny book and it's written with tons of doodles and sketches and side threads about things like Grandpa's dentures and trying to talk with your mouth full of cereal. It's not a read-aloud, since so much of it is told in the doodles and side bits. Two stars for "it was okay" but I think it's best suited for a certain kind of kid. I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review. |
About halfway through Louis' teacher says "Speed it up" and I'm like, yes please,,, It get it is supposed to have scientific and educational information in a more fun execution, but honestly it dragged. it was quite a lot of reading, tiny font and not a lot of excitement. It was supposed to have funny elements, and maybe young kids would enjoy it, but it had quite a few big words and veered off and "Louis" had to be reminded to get back on track. |
3.5* This was absolutely not what I expected. This little picture book follows an oral presentation about rock mammoths. I cannot deny I wasn't sure if I was kinking it at first, but as I continued reading I became more and more invested in Louis's presentation. Definitely recommended to those children who have a scientist inside them. |
Review to come in April to blog/goodreads. I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review. Sorry this cover just called me. A mammoth with sunglasses and looking very punk? Sign me up! The book is about a little guy who is having to do a report in front of his class (urgh, I remember how horrible I found that, I always was stressing out and trying to get out of it). His topic? Well, if you are thinking he is going to be doing it about a normal pet, like a goldfish for instance, then you are dead wrong. He is doing it on the mammoth! Yes, while that is not a conventional pet, Louis counts it as one, and I wasn't disagreeing. It would make a dang awesome pet. We see how Louis tells the class about his pet, mammoth, and I loved how he started with their discovery and who was the discoverer, then he got to some details, and then he went to their disappearance (which according to him was because they were such rock stars and just needed time out, love it). We then read on how he got to the topic of his report and oh yes how he went on a hunt for a mammoth himself (which was adorable). While at times it was a bit less of a report and it felt more like a fantasy story I still loved it. I loved LOVED how the book was designed. It looks like the pages from a research paper/report, but there also parts that showed us rooms and places. Delightful! I had a big laugh at Louis report and then especially the teacher popping up quite a few times because Louis went on tangents and seemed to forget about mammoths all together. :P I also loved the reactions of his classmates. The ending was one I hadn't expected at all! I had many ideas on how the story could go and while I was kind of thinking of this as a possible ending I quickly shrugged it off, they wouldn't go that way? Would they? I was in stitches when he pulled that out in front of the class. Oh my goodness! The illustrations were just the cutest and I love their style. I definitely need to check out what other things this illustrator drew. I want more! All in all a funny and delightful tale about mammoths and reports and rock. So much rock. *headbangs* |
I am conflicted how I feel about this arc. On on hand the art style is adorable but the actual story is sort of all over the place. I don't expect a deep developed plot for a kids picture . I don't even expect everything in the story to make logical sense. Kids books are supposed to bend reason and logic . The issue, though, with this book is that it drags and goes on various tangents that come off as more confusing than adding anything fun to the overall story. I could see kids getting really distracted with this and that is not a good thing for a 48 page picture book. Another issue is that some of the words/names come off as a bit too complicated for kids. I don't see anything wrong with hard names or scientific terms in kids books since they provide a chance for kids and the parent(s)/adult reading it to them both to learn. Have to keep a balance with that though. Too many hard names or concepts make it frustrating for kid and adult alike. Overall though the art is fun and whimsical and could see kids that are between picture books and early reader books especially those into this sort of subject matter really enjoying this. |
This book is great for children that have moved on from "younger" picture books. I think it would be a little hard to follow for others, because even I at times had to go back and make sure I was reading something correctly. With that being said though, I really enjoyed the "mixed-media" graphic novel feel of it! Great illustrations! |
Rock Mammoth is a beautifully illustrated and well-conceived book. I would gladly add it to my classroom bookshelf or children’s lit course. |
This is a weirdly odd picture book, that looks as though it is going to be about the wooly mammoth, but it is not. It is about a rock mammoth, who apparently is like a rock star? I never quite figured it out, although it does seem to play the guitar. I wasn't quite sure if this was supposed to be satire, or partially true, or complete fantasy. The other problem with the story is it rambled so much, I just wanted it to be done, which is never a good sign for any book. I suppose it could be amusing for the easily amused. Did not quite work for me. Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. |








