Two Dinosaur Books

When I was a kid, one of my favorite books was my dad’s college geology text. I loved the drawings of dinosaur fossils and the renderings of how scientists (back in the last century) thought they might look. And now look – today I have two new(ish) books about dinosaurs and the scientists who study them.

theme: Dinosaurs, nature, fossils

Mary Morland in the Time of Dinosaur Discovery

Jane Kurtz, illus. by Giselle Potter

48 pages; ages 4-8

Beach Lane Books, 2026 

Mary Morland was born in a time of ribbons and lace, when small girls were seen as dainty, delicate decorations to make a room pretty.

But she was not one for sitting in a parlor – not when the whole wide world was waiting outside. She spent her days looking closely at plants and rocks … and drawing her observations in a journal. She collected fossils and shells, sent specimens and letters to Georges Cuvier (a famous French scientist). She drew pictures of bones from a Megalosaurus – the first dinosaur to have a name. Did she stop studying and drawing once she got married and had kids? No, she did not.

What I like about this book: I love that Jane Kurtz brings another woman of early dinosaur discoveries to the page. Mary Morland was a contemporary of Mary Anning, and yet few people have heard her name. Not surprising; in the 1800’s, women didn’t get credit for their discoveries. I like the emphasis on how Mary observed the plants and animals she saw, and how she drew her observations in her journal. And I like the back matter that tells more about Mary, and provides resources for curious young dinosaur hunters.

Dinosaur Secrets Revealed! How High-Tech Tools Spark Discoveries (Sandra Markle's Science Discoveries) 

by Sandra Markle 

48 pages; ages 9-12

‎Millbrook Press, 2025 

Are you ready to discover dinosaur secrets? If so, Sandra Markle invites you to dive in and follow the discoveries she reveals. Because, as she notes, new technology and high-tech tools not only allow scientists to study ancient bones in a new way, but allows scientist to ask new questions. Like…

How powerful was T. Rex’s bite? Load sensors, like those found in bathroom scales, combined with digital models and computer animation were put to use to solve the problem. Seven chapters address seven questions and introduce the technology used by modern paleontologists and their engineering partners. People are still digging bones out of rock millions of years old, but the technology to evaluate the bones continues to evolve! Back matter includes more dino information and resources for kids who want to dive deeper.

Beyond the Books:

Does your state have an official State Dinosaur? What about a State Fossil? Find out and create a stamp celebrating your state dino or fossil. My state has a fossil (yay!) but not a dino – and I want to know why not!

Draw what you see: an interesting leaf, a snail, a rock or a shell… something you can observe close up. You’ll need a sketch pad or some plain paper, and a good pencil. Colored pencils or crayons are great for adding colorful details.

Learn more about women paleontologists (scientists who study fossils) at this Museum of the Earth page.

Create your own dinosaur name  - and then make a picture of you as a dinosaur. Here’s a dino-name cheat sheet from PBS. 

Thanks for dropping by today. 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.

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.

Fighting about Fossils...

I grew up in the land of Dinosaur skeletons. I loved to visit the natural history museum at the University of Utah just so I could walk through the dinosaur exhibit and imagine those thunderous creatures stomping across the hillsides. What I didn’t know – and didn’t learn until much later – was how much our exhibits depended on a war… a Bone War! So I was delighted when this book came out just a couple months ago…

The Bone Wars: The True Story of an Epic Battle to Find Dinosaur Fossils 

by Jane Kurtz; illus. by Alexander Vidal 

40 pages; ages 3-8

‎Beach Lane Books, 2023

theme: biography, paleontology, fossils,

In 1863 two smart, bold young men met for the first time. They had a lot in common. O.C. Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope were fascinated by science.

They tromped around fossil beds together and even named fossils after each other. Friends forever, right? Until…

Marsh pointed out a mistake Cope had made in describing Elasmosaurus. Cope had attached the skull to the tail end, and Marsh was delighted to point out this error! From now on it was all-out competition to see who would make the next big fossil discovery. No more working together for these two. Instead there was trickery! Espionage! Skullduggery!

What I like about this book: Young paleontologists will love reading about the race to discover new dinosaur fossils and the work it takes to get them out of the rock and into museums. The discoveries Cole and Marsh uncovered inspired other scientist to look for bones as well as eggs, skin, footprints – even fossilized poop (called coprolite, in case you’re wondering). Even now paleontologists are out in the field searching for more bones and fossilized dino-bits.

Then there’s the story of two dedicated scientists who could have been great, but ended up destroying their lives in a bitter rivalry that grew into the Bone Wars. What could they have accomplished had they worked together?

Back matter includes notes from the author and illustrator, who remind readers that scientists are learning more about dinosaurs every day. And there’s a list of resources and suggested reading for curious kids who want to dig deeper.

Beyond the Books:

Think like a paleontologist with the educators at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. This 20-minute video encourages viewers to make close observations, form a hypothesis, and use information from fossils to understand more about extinct creatures. There’s also a visit to the Fossil Prep Lab to learn how fossils are prepared for research and display.

Check out these fun activities from the Los Angeles Natural History Museum – from coloring pages to dying dino-like eggs to making your own fossil. 

Plan how you could tackle a huge project that needs to get done. Maybe it’s cleaning out the garage, or mowing and raking the yard. Would it be better to have someone help you? How would you divide the work? When things don’t go smoothly, how might you solve disagreements? Once you’ve thought things through, gather your team and tackle that project.

Here are reviews of other books about paleontologists:

Fossil Huntress: Mary Leakey, Paleontologist, by Andi Diehn

Dinosaur Lady: The Daring Discoveries of Mary Anning, the First Paleontologist, by Linda Skeers

The Dinosaur Expert, by Margaret McNamara

Here We Go Digging for Dinosaur Bones, by Susan Lendroth

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. Review copy provided by Blue Slip Media.

Paleontology Girls!

I’m ending the month with a celebration of women in paleontology. The themes for today: fossils, women scientists, biographies

Fossil Huntress: Mary Leakey, Paleontologist
By Andi Diehn; illus. by Katie Mazeika
32 pages; ages 5-8
Nomad Press, 2019

When Mary Leakey was a little girl, she and her father liked to learn about the past.

Mary didn’t go to school like other kids. Instead, she read lots of books about things that interested her. Like fossils. She was passionate about fossils and became good at drawing them. When she grew older, she went to Africa and looked for fossils. She uncovered a skull that was about 16 million years old, and years later discovered fossilized footprints.

What I like about this book: It’s fun to read, and I like how curiosity drives Mary to study fossils and footprints. I also like that author, Andi Diehn explains what paleontologists do when they find fossils. They describe where they found it – landscape and features – and then measure and draw the fossils. And there is back matter! An activity, some quotes and connections to the text, a timeline, and a glossary. Plus, it’s part of a series that introduces women in science to young children.

Gutsy Girls Go for Science: Paleontologists: With Stem Projects for Kids
By Karen Bush Gibson; illus by Hui Li
112 pages; ages 8-12
Nomad Press, 2019

Life on earth began about 3.7 billion years ago – not that anyone was there to document it. So how do we know about prehistoric life?

Paleontologists. They’re the scientists who study fossils, from ferns to trilobites, dinosaurs to ancient humans. In this books we meet twelve-year-old Mary Anning who, in 1811, found a dinosaur in the cliffs near her home. We meet Mignon Talbot who studied crinoids – and I’m glad she did because our garden is filled with fossilized crinoid stems. She is also the first American woman to discover – and name – a dinosaur. Other paleontologists featured are Tilly Edinger, Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska, and Mary Leakey.

What I like: Before we head off to join the paleontologists, there’s a “field kit checklist” to remind us to take out safety glasses along with the rock hammer. There are plenty of text-boxes, along with short bios of other paleontologists not featured and hands-on “field assignments” at the end of each chapter.

You can read an interview with author Karen Bush Gibson that was posted earlier this week over at STEM Tuesday.

Beyond the Books:

Draw a fossil – or a shell, leaf, bone, or even a plastic dinosaur. Just like a paleontologist, your goal is to observe your find and capture its shape, colors, and textures on paper. Make sure to write down the date, and jot any notes and labels like a real paleontologist would do.

Make your own fossils out of salt dough. Use shells, plastic dinosaurs, or even leaves to make impressions. Once baked to hardness, paint and … voila! Your very own fossil museum. Instructions here and here.

Or if you’d rather, whip up a batch of cookie dough – you know, the kind you roll and cut into shapes – and press some “fossil imprints” into them.  Or make some fossil jewelry. Here’s directions for that.

If you were a dinosaur, what would your Dinosaur Name be? Find some dino books and choose your favorite names. Stuck? Then check out this cheat sheet from the Horniman Museum

Get digging! Head out into the field alongside paleontology experts, or find fossil camps for kids here.

Today we're joining Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. And you can check out more books on paleontology over at the STEM Tuesday blog – where this month’s theme was Dinosaurs. There’s a book list and more. Review copies provided by the publisher.