Books with author Steven M. Hoffman

Tree roots splitting a rock apart is an example of weathering, while a glacier pulling rocks along in its path is erosion. This informative book offers many examples of these two processes and outlines the key role they play in the rock cycle.

People have long been captivated by the beauty of gems, from diamonds and sapphires to rubies and emeralds. Kids will be interested to know how these precious rocks form. Through this helpful book, young gem lovers will understand the crystal structure that many gems have and how beautiful rocks form in nature.

Learn about how different soil compositions encourage the growth of different kinds of plants.

Introduces the two types of weathering that cause the natural process of erosion--mechanical and chemical--and describes the effects of erosion, explaining how unnatural forms of erosion can be prevented.

Discusses the differences between rocks, minerals, and gems, their formation and composition, how they are mined, and how they are used.

Rocks are all around us, and all kids have picked them up to study their different shapes and sizes. This book gives kids the tools to know what they are looking at when they do so. It offers tips on identifying rocks and excellent background information about how rocks form. Armed with this knowledge, any reader can become a budding geologist.

Offers tips on how to identify rocks and background information on how rocks form.

Learn how fossils to about the past.

Bits of rock are a key component of soil. The kinds of rocks found in soil determine what sorts of plants will grow well in it. This book is full of information that readers can use in their own investigations of soil and rocks.

Fossils are an incredible link to plants and animals that lived millions of years ago. For this reason, fossils such as dinosaur bones have long fascinated kids. This book offers uncomplicated and engaging explanations of what exactly fossils are, how they form, and what their position in rocks teaches us about Earth’s past.

Rocks look solid and stable, but the volcanoes in which some rocks are created and the earthquakes that rearrange rocks are incredibly dramatic. This book explains what causes volcanoes and earthquakes in simple, accessible language.

Explains why and how volcanoes and earthquakes occur, and what happens to the earth when they do.