Mary Anning and the Sea Dragon

by Jeannine Atkins

Book Overview

In 1872, curiosity incites a 12-year-old's English girl's interest in paleontology when she finds the entire skeleton of an ichthyosaur, an extinct sea reptile. Later, this adventurous girl went on to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374348405
• ISBN13: 9780374348403
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 1 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 8.8" x 11.7"
• Age Range: 5 to 10 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 5

Customer Reviews

Young scientists will want to read this one again and again!

With the loving support of her mother, and the admonition of her deceased father to perservere in her quest for "curiosities", Mary Anning went on to discover ancient fossils which earned her the friendship and respect of many well-known scientists of the early 1800s. Christians and Jews will want to change the reference "millions of years" to "thousands" to be in keeping with Biblical creationism, but other than that it is a great book. It is the kind of book a young scientist will read again and again... feeling the cold, salty air as Mary digs in the sand and scrapes at the stones that fall from the cliffs of the shores of Lyme Regis, England. Her relentless curiosity and faithful endurance led to her discovery of what we now call an ichthyosaur... at the age of only eleven!

A Wonderful Collaboration

Atkins and Dooling have created a beautiful picture book that girls and boys will love. Mary Anning's story is becoming more well known now with two other recently released picture books (by Laurence Anholt and Don Brown). Dooling's illustrations are vivid, colorful, real and beautiful!

Women's History and Careers

The story of Mary Anning is certainly not well known, at least in the US and outside of the field of paleantology. This book gives a perspective of what it's like to have a fascination which turns into a career. It is especially encouraging to young women who want to explore a variety of careers.The illustrations capture a life in England at the sea in the early 1800's. Beautifully done!