Fossil Girl. The [Library Binding]

Catherine Brighton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1999 | Age Level: 5 and up

In simple cartoon style, tells the story of a twelve-year-old English girl's discovery in 1811 of an ichthyosaurus skeleton.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-4-In this bicentennial year of Anning's birth, Brighton presents a comic-strip style account of the British paleontologist's legendary childhood discovery of the first ichthyosaur skeleton. Like Laurence Anholt, whose picture book biography tells Mary's childhood in Stone Girl, Bone Girl (Orchard, 1999), Brighton fictionalizes in re-creating the amazing find. Her spare telling features a determined, somewhat older-looking Mary, her brother Joe, and their widowed mother, whose modest seaside home and curiosity shop are battered one stormy night. While Mary and Joe search for new fossil treasures to replenish their lost livelihood, they discover the enormous unknown creature embedded high in the cliff. In a scenario of derring-do, Mary mounts a crude wooden tower built by a neighbor to lower segments of the fossil. "Then, as the cart pulled away across the beach, there was a sudden CRACK-and the tower collapsed like a pack of cards!" All ends well as the children charge the townsfolk a penny a piece to see their great treasure, and Mary negotiates a selling price with the Lord of the Manor. Brighton's concluding note summarizes Anning's adult discoveries and her role in the history of science. Picture panels in a variety of groupings carry small blocks of narrative over watercolor scenes in muted tones, while dialogue balloons add bits of detail. The graphic-story format is well suited to the dramatic structure of events. Differing in details, neither Anholt nor Brighton acknowledge sources. The story is appealing in either case, and this cartoon adventure of a real-life heroine will be a fine choice for most collections.
Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Grade 2-4-With a comic-book layout, staccato prose, and sun-drenched illustrations, this real-life adventure of a curious English girl is an exciting introduction to the 19th-century paleontologist. (May)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Library Binding: 32 pages
• Publisher: Millbrook Press (March 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761314687
• ISBN-13: 978-0761314684
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,997,403 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Fossil Girl..Wondrous Discoveries!, March 28, 2000

By 

D Mann (Long Island) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fossil Girl. The (Library Binding)

I read this book with my six year old daughter and her first grade class. The story is told from the viewpoint of Mary Anning, a young girl, who along with her brother supplemented her widowed mother's income by the selling of "curiousities" which they found on the beach near their home in England. These curiousities turned out to be fossils of dinosaurs. (The book takes place in the 19th century when such things were still not common knowledge). It is a wonderful story simply told with beautiful illustrations. It is simple emough for a first or second grader to read by themselves with a few assists over the "hard" words. It is particularly good because it is also a true story! There is a one page addendum at the end telling the rest of the Mary Anning's life and how she, although never leaving the small village where she was born, became one of the foremost dinosaur experts of her time.