Maroo of the Winter Caves: A Winter and Holiday Book for Kids

I purchased this as a homeschooling supplement to an Ice Age/Stone Age unit. Turned out to be one of my kids' favorites. Quick progression of story line for young listeners/readers, realistic scenarios and conflict, plus beautiful imagery to introduce the era/culture to little kids and new readers. Would compare reading level to the "stepping stones" chapter books or Magic Treehouse series. Can't recommend it enough, especially as a read aloud.There are intense/upsetting/difficult themes, but my kids are extremely sensitive and they (5 and 7) handled them OK. The book treated them with reverence and sensitivity, which I feel is often missing from kids movies with similar scenarios. Trying to avoid spoilers, so sorry about the vague details. Also added to the realistic nature of the plot which was the point of reading this book for school.

Perfect addition to our prehistory curriculum.

A beautifully and detailed vision into life long ago told in an absolutely engaging way. Maroo is a stalwart female character who inspires all to find and dig for that inner strength which we inherently possess. This strength is called upon and amazingly reveals itself in unexpected ways for Maroo. Wish I would have read this book as a 10-17 year old! Ten year old read it on their own. But we also we used it a read-aloud with two under 8 and they thoroughly enjoyed it as well! A timeless classic!

Interesting story that is very believable, no gaffes or plot errors, covers many aspects of ice age life, such as illness, food, hunting, sleeping arrangements, burial, social structure, etc, and has enough characters to be interesting, but not so many a 1st grader can't follow it (although we did stop once or twice to reiterate how everyone was related).I read it aloud to a 6 y/o and we had several discussions he initiated. One of our best read-alouds. Read this after The First Dog, You Wouldn't Want to be a Mammoth Hunter, some cave art samples, and consider viewing Walking with Cave Men. These were our favourite resources for an ice age intro for K5-1, with Maroo being the most advanced, so I'm glad we did it last.

AMAZING read. I read this book aloud to my children, ages 8 and 6, as we did a study on Prehistory. This book is a great read without any context but opens doors for further discussion with children about the culture of prehistoric people. I think this book may have been our favorite since Charlotte's Web read aloud. Very engaging and hard to put down - great for independent reading or read aloud!

This book was used at my daughter school for her English class, she really enjoyed read it

I bought this as a read-aloud for a middle school special education class studying the Stone Age. There was enough content about migrating with the seasons, tools and fire, the introduction of the dog, hunting and gathering, belief in spirits, and how the family unit worked together that it ended up being a major jumping off place for many topics. The story was compelling and generally fast-paced. All the students, even my "cool" 8th grade boys, and my aide were anxious to hear what came next and disappointed if we were too busy to read. A definite hit!

My daughter had to read this for summer going into 6th grade and she liked it.

Excellent book!

This was recommended by another parent as good material for Home Ed learning about the Stone Age. My six year old son and I are fascinated by prehistory, and he is loving this (as am I). It's very gentle but fast-paced - lots happens, but there is time taken for detail (about what people wear, how they cook) and I like the easy presence of spiritual belief. Depending on what your child is into and has experienced, there is loads to identify with - beach play (rock-pools, caves, sea); animals (taming a wild dog); hunting and bushcraft; anticipation and arrival of a new baby; sibling relationships; the stars (astrology).The story provokes discussion about scientific as well as spiritual belief - how Maroo's people use the moon to measure the passage of time, for example, or Maroo's method of quantifying things "More people lived here than Maroo could count using all her fingers twice".My son is into Bear Grylls, Star Wars, Lego, Ninjago, gardening, animals and insects, dinosaurs - and we have just come back from Welsh caves and beaches, so there is so much that he identifies with here. I'll be ordering one for my nine-year-old niece (who could read it alone) who is quite the opposite to my son, but the sincerity of this book, and the simplicity of the characters' world will appeal to sensitive souls!