Friday, October 11, 2024

Books to Celebrate Dinosaur Month

 October is National Dinosaur Month and I’ve got three great books that are perfect for young paleontologists!

Themes: dinosaurs, nonfiction, biography

Dinosaurs Can Be Small 
by Darrin Lunde; illus. by Ariel Landy 
32 pages; ages 3-7
Charlesbridge, 2024

 A Brontosaurus raises its head above a ginkgo tree. It is a long-necked dinosaur. But not all long-necked dinosaurs are big.

Many dinosaurs, it turns out, were small. Some as tall as you, others no taller than a Barbie doll. And that’s okay, because sometimes smaller is better. Smaller dinos needed less food to fill their bellies. They could survive eating insects. They could climb trees. And when the large dinosaurs were wiped out by a giant meteor, it was the small dinos that survive.

What I like about this book: I like the compare and contrast structure. On one spread Darrin Lunde introduces a large dinosaur – Tyrannosaurus, Tricerotops, Pterodactyl (not really a dinosaur but a close relative). The next spread highlights a tiny dino-relative. Back matter shows each dino with an explanation about their name.

She Sells Seashells: Mary Anning, an Unlikely Paleontologist 
by Heidi E. Y. Stemple; illus. by Emily Paik 
40 pages; ages 5-9
Charlesbridge, 2024

Mary Anning was an unlikely paleontologist. Especially unlikely for England in the early 1800s.

Because she wasn’t really a paleontologist at all. She was just a girl who collected fossilized seashells to sell in her family’s seaside shop. Back then, girls could collect things – they just couldn’t study them. Girls didn’t go to school, and they certainly didn’t become scientists. But Mary did.

What I like about this book: I like how Heidi Stemple shows the patience and persistence of Mary Anning as she chipped and dug fossils and bones from cliffs and stones. I like the use of repetition of some phrases such as, “Chip! Scrape! Chip!” I particularly like how she portrays Mary: unconcerned about those “rich boys” and “educated men” because she had fossils to find, and was too busy educating herself. Back matter dives a bit deeper into Mary’s life and the fossils she discovered. Plus, we learn about another Mary who lived just 150 miles away who was also digging up fossils! (And who, like Mary Anning, never got the credit for her discoveries.)


Mary Anning and Paleontology for Kids: Her Life and Discoveries, with 21 Activities 
by Stephanie Bearce 
134 pages; ages 8-12
‎Chicago Review Press, 2024

It is only fitting that Stephanie Bearce, a fossil-collecting, award-winning author, write about a girl who loved fossils. She begins with Mary Anning’s early life, fossil-hunting with her father, to Mary’s discovery of her first skeleton. Stephanie shows hoe Mary painstakingly removed the fossilized bones from the shale and how those bones, bought by a wealthy man, wound up in a museum. Mary did more than dig up bones, though. She cleaned them, figured out how to put them together in a complete skeleton, and creates detailed scientific illustrations about her finds. 

What I like about this book: Scattered throughout the book are sidebars that dive into details about aspects of life in the 1800s as well as the hands-on activities. Young readers can try their hand at making a fossil imprint, creating their own scientific illustration, and doing their own fossil extraction. I especially like that there’s an entire chapter devoted to female fossil finders and one on modern paleontology. 

Beyond the Books:

Make some dinosaur footprint cookies. You’ll need a plastic dinosaur or two… here’s the recipe.

Make a paper bag dinosaur puppet. All you need is a paper lunch bag, some construction paper, scissors, glue, and imagination. But here’s how one person made their puppets.

What kind of dinosaur are you? Gentle giant or fierce meat-eater? Here’s a quiz from the London Museum of Natural History that will reveal your true dino-heart.

Check out TrowelBlazers, a site that highlights the contributions of women in the ‘digging’ sciences: archaeology, geology, and palaeontology. 

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website

On Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other  bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading.
Review copies provided by the publishers.


10 comments:

  1. According to the test I am a Cryolophosaurus! Thanks for all the recommendations.

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  2. I didn't realize there were super small dinosaurs. Thanks for the book recommendations this week.

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  3. I love this list. My littlest loves the book Dinosaur Lady by Linda Skeers, but we haven't read these others about Mary Anning. I will definitely check them out. Thanks!

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  4. Mary Anning sounds like a very gifted individual. This book will certainly add more interest from young readers in paleontology. Thanks for including your review on this week's MMGM.

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  5. Such interesting books. I don't read nearly enough nonfiction but enjoy seeing your reviews of what is available. Sounds like they would make lovely gifts for younger readers too. Happy MMGM

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  6. I love stories about women like Mary Anning -- what a gift she has made to paleontology. There are many young people who are drawn to fossils -- I know I loved to look for them as a kid. What a lovely gift book! Thanks for sharing!

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  7. My 2 year old nephew is obsessed with dinosaurs! I think he might enjoy Dinosaurs can be small! I've never heard of Mary Anning before, and both of these books sound fascinating. Thanks for the recommendations!

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  8. I didn't know there was a dinosaur month. These books all look great, but I think Bearce's book sound most interesting. Thanks for telling me about all of these.

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