ASE Green Tick evaluation

DNA Detectives The Stone Age Mystery

Introduction

Former scientist turned author, Mandy Hartley, is passionate about teaching children about DNA. Amanda has a PhD in genetics and spent 15 years working with DNA in a variety of contexts, including medicine and forensics.

Her new novel, The Stone Age Mystery, is the third part in the DNA Detectives series for children. In this latest book, the children find themselves at the centre of another mystery. Their school has collapsed into a cave below, revealing not one, but two, very interesting caves: one containing an ancient cave painting and the other the skeletal remains of a Stone Age person. The children, Annabelle and Harry, find evidence that someone has been there before, removing precious artefacts from the scene. And so, the adventure begins.

This book, suitable for pupils aged 7-14 years, has elements of both an adventure story and a crime novel. Readers see the whole forensic process in action: looking for evidence, conducting analyses and reaching conclusions.

How the books support the curriculum

There are many science curriculum areas that teachers could link to this book: skeletons, rocks, inheritance, but the strongest link is the process of working scientifically. Asking a question – who dunnit? – and then seeking the answers through a detective enquiry. Throughout the book, we see a strong model of how forensic scientists and archaeologists might ask questions and test their ideas both in the laboratory and through observations made in the field. For me, that was the most fascinating aspect of the story. 

Whilst the book is set in the modern day, we learn about the wider historical context of the Stone Age. The story highlights the ancient paintings of the Lascaux Caves in France and the expert analysis of the historical finds, demonstrating how we learn about history through evidence. We can clearly see that the author has drawn upon her lifetime of experience in this field to bring the process to life. For example, when archaeologist Ruby looks at the knee joint, she describes how it shows signs of wear, leading the characters to discuss how painful it must have been for the Stone Age man to walk. I can imagine using excerpts from the story with younger children studying the Stone Age to highlight how we know what life was like so long ago. Later on, we are introduced to the real work of Bryan Sykes, who sequenced the DNA of the Cheddar Man. Links such as these are woven throughout the story, showing the reader how people work scientifically in real life.

Plenty of female characters pop up throughout the story – the precocious yet brilliant mind of ‘Annabelle’, her teachers, Ruby the archaeologist and Annabelle’s science educator mum.  The characters are subtly challenged about their unconscious bias; when asked whether they think the skeleton is male or female, they presume female because the skeleton has a necklace, only to find that their assumptions were wrong. That’s the first rule of any detective work – never assume anything!

The book supports pupils’ reading skills through the use of vocabulary and phonic decoding. It also supports discussion and guided reading, and provides good opportunities for role play. The Stone Age Mystery could be used as a text for a science-based reading group, or book club for older students. There are many challenging concepts in there that could trigger further ethical discussion or debate about how our genetic information is used and how this information is stored. The story also considers the reliability of the DNA information gathered, and deals with how forensic scientists ensure that samples are not contaminated and whether the information they gather is reliable, thus providing lots of scope for wider discussion about the process of investigation.

The theme of DNA can be complex, and the reader could have been so easily lost. However, the author uses the dialogue to signpost the way through the case as it evolves. As an adult reader, at times I wished that there were a little more room for the reader to draw their own conclusions. That said, there was never a moment when I didn’t want to find out what happened next and I was fully invested in the unfolding mystery. It will be really interesting to hear what young readers make of the book.

There are online educational materials to support the other two books in the series, and it is hoped that Amanda will create some resources to support this book too. If you can get her into your school for a workshop, do! Her workshops are a masterclass in how to make the most complex of subjects accessible to all. That is what I admire about this book – DNA is our shared coding that makes us all human and, at the same time, so beautifully unique. Amanda has chosen to write books to highlight the wonder of our DNA and to show how it is the key to understanding not only our present, but our past as well.

Conclusion 

The DNA Detectives series of books are fictional stories with a strong scientific context running throughout. Whilst there is a lot of technical language, it is always explained and so the books are a relatively easy read, with short chapters. The book would be a good addition to any school library for children to read independently, or supported in small groups. Who knows, your children may be inspired to become DNA Detectives themselves.