Doug's Ark: Thinking Outside the Pile

Rating:
Summary: Great Story!
Review: I picked up this book, as I had read "Fossiling in Florida" by the same author, thinking it would have stories about fossil hunting. To my suprise it was an enjoyable tale set long ago, intermixed with lite philosophical discussions, containing the idea that life's answer may lie in having respect for all life and by simply being nice. In this day of often depressing or violent news stories and world problems with no answers, the book is like "Dung Pile Dirt for the Soul". I await the second half of the to be continued story.....

Rating:
Summary: Renz thinks outside the box
Review: What a delightful story! Renz has demonstrated an uncanny ability to weave science, paleontology, imagination, worldly concepts, and morally important thoughts into a short book that is significant to both children as well as adults. The reader has the opportunity to be as casual or as deep-thinking as they wish. The book is filled with profound social and personal issues that are discussed and developed "around the water hole". I was captivated by the personalities of the animals and touched by the developments within the story. Many of the issues that Renz boldly discusses open a window into the personality and internal beliefs of the author at a time in which world values, misunderstanding of social cultures, and lack of comprehension of right and wrong seems to be of global proportions. Renz speaks to us through the mouths of extinct species, and touches our hearts with a powerful ending that will bring a tear to the eye of the caring.

Lee Cone - AP Biology teacher and amateur paleontologist