CITY ROCKS, CITY BLOCKS, AND THE MOON

Defining geology as ""trees pushing up and breaking pavements and an iron fence rusting away"" or as ""walking barefoot and feeling wet mud between your toes"" may seem a bit capricious, but then we have Gallob's impressively textured, confidently composed black and white photographs to substantiate the connection between eroding gravestones, crumbling buildings and flood-inundated sidewalks and the more cataclysmic types of geologic change. And we have his portraits of rocks -- both as isolated specimens and in situ as brownstone fronts, curbstones, old-fashioned cobblestone paving and slate sidewalks -- to transform the standard lesson on types of rocks -- igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary -- into a striking exhibit of beautiful forms and easily recognizable functions. An elegantly designed use of materials that are part of every city child's experience, this introduction to rocks teaches observation by giving the reader photos worth looking at and dispenses with the usual round of programmed activities and overplanned ""discoveries.