I picked up this copy from The Book Thing of Baltimore, Inc. located in downtown Baltimore, Maryland. The Book Thing is a warehouse of free books that has become a local fixture in the community. The premise is simple. You take as many books as you like, and you can donate as many books as you like. It has become a place for us bookcrossers to congregate often.

Here is an editorial review from Amazon.com:

Jean Auel's fifth novel about Ayla, the Cro-Magnon cavewoman raised by Neanderthals, is the biggest comeback bestseller in Amazon.com history. In The Shelters of Stone, Ayla meets the Zelandonii tribe of Jondalar, the Cro-Magnon hunk she rescued from Baby, her pet lion. Ayla is pregnant. How will Jondalar's mom react? Or his bitchy jilted fiancée? Ayla wows her future in-laws by striking fire from flint and taming a wild wolf. But most regard her Neanderthal adoptive Clan as subhuman "flatheads." Clan larynxes can't quite manage language, and Ayla must convince the Zelandonii that Clan sign language isn't just arm-flapping. Zelandonii and Clan are skirmishing, and those who interbreed are deemed "abominations." What would Jondalar's tribe think if they knew Ayla had to abandon her half-breed son in Clan country? The plot is slow to unfold, because Auel's first goal is to pack the tale with period Pleistocene detail, provocative speculation, and bits of romance, sex, tribal politics, soap opera, and homicidal wooly rhino-hunting adventure. It's an enveloping fact-based fantasy, a genre-crossing time trip to the Ice Age.

Here are my thoughts on the book:

Shes done went and done it again. I have read and enjoyed the entire (up to now) series by Jean Auel and look forward to the next book in the series. The best and in my opinion only way to read and enjoy the (earth children) is to start with the first "Clan of the Cave Bear".

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

This book is being released at the BookCrossing tables at the Kensington Day of the Book street festival taking place on Howard Avenue. This book was left there on purpose for you to find. Read and enjoy!

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