What would you do if you were out walking your dog, and all of the sudden your dog fell into a deep hole. Oh no, right? And suppose that while getting your dog out, you discovered -- in that deep hole -- a tunnel! What would you do? Would you go exploring?
That's just what Jacques and Marcel did back in 1940. And you'll never believe what they found! That tunnel led to a cave. And in that cave were a whole bunch of beautiful paintings dating back to prehistoric times. Prehistoric -- as in 17,000 years.
Author Emily Arnold McCully explores the discovery of this cave in her book The Secret Cave: Discovering Lascaux. At first the boys thought they were going to find buried gold, but instead they found the most famous prehistoric art of all time, the Lascaux cave paintings. What's really cool about these paintings is that the colors had not faded. The paintings -- approximately 600 -- had a protective layer of chalk which made them watertight. That's why they lasted all those years!
Gradually the boys did share the secret of the cave and eventually people were able to visit the cave and marvel at the wonderful works of art.
You can learn all about the discovery of this prehistoric art by reading this really great non-fiction book!
And just a reminder, the Summer Reading Club returns to SSJCPL on June 1. Stop by anytime after that and pick up your reading log and start reading in order to win fabulous prizes. And if you complete your reading log, you'll be entered into a grand prize raffle to win a Kindle Fire!
What lucky boys! I can't wait to read "The Secret Cave!" Thanks for the recommendation.
ReplyDeleteWhile we are on the subject of youths discovering things, one of my favorite children's biographies is "Stone girl, bone girl : the story of Mary Anning" by Laurence Anholt. This young English lady's father taught her to collect fossils; when she was twelve years old, she discovered the first complete ichthyosaur skeleton!