Book reviews by kids

Book review: John Long, Fossil Hunter

Image shows the cover of a children's biography: John Long, Fossil Hunter by Danielle Clode. The cover is predominantly brown. There's a hand-drawn illustration of John Long, a fair haired man wearing a brown hat, black spectacles and holding a pick and a fossil in each hand. Around this drawing of him are doodle-style illustrations of a fish skeleton, a spade, a paintbrush and an ancient looking fish, as well as a lightbulb lit up in yellow.

REVIEWED BY BELLA, 10, WA

John Long, Fossil Hunter, story told by Danielle Clode, Wild Dingo Press, ISBN 9781925893687

The publisher provided a review copy of this book.

This book in the Aussie Stem Stars series features John Long, the inspiring fossil hunter. The story is told by Danielle Clode.

I recommend this book for ages eight and up.

The chapter I found hilarious was “karate kid”, when suddenly John fell in love with karate. He first had a passion for karate when he saw Bruce Lee do karate!

I learned many facts about fossils in this wonderful book, that I didn’t know before. I also had never heard about John Long before, until I read the first few chapters of the book.

My favourite chapter was ‘Camping Chaos’, because I like how the author described the the event, which made me feel as though I was in a different world, right there stuck in the terrific story!

If I could star rate this book, I would probably give it a 4.5 out of 5! That is my opinion on how the book is really good.

I really enjoyed John Long, and learning about his experience with fossils.

Take a peek inside the book at the publisher’s website!


This is Bella’s first book review for Alphabet Soup. To send us YOUR book review, check out our submission guidelines. Happy reading!