Dragon Bones
DRAGON BONES: THE FANTASTIC FOSSIL DISCOVERIES OF MARY ANNING
by Sarah Glenn Marsh, illustrated by Maris Wicks
Roaring Brook Press | 2022
Join young Mary Anning as she explores the English sea coast, finding bones in the soil after each heavy rain. Adventuring with her father, Mary hopes to find the bones of a real dinosaur. When her father dies, Mary must carry on alone. And carry on she does! In this beautiful picture book biography, you'll get to know Mary Anning, the fossil hunter who discovered a nearly intact dinosaur skeleton, forever changing the course of paleontology.
Discussion questions
Mary always went treasure hunting with her father. She was very sad when he died, but kept treasure hunting anyway. Why do you think she did that?
Mary wanted to keep the fossils she found as a young girl, but her family wanted to sell them. Would you have kept them?
Mary found many different fossilized skeletons, but other people always named them. Who is in charge of naming such things? Do you think the person who found the fossils should also name them? Why or why not?
Each time Mary found a new fossilized skeleton, a male scientist would buy it and do research and presentations about it, but they never mentioned Mary as the founder. Why do you think that was?
Mary was treasure hunting in the early 1800’s and found a lot of fossils. Do you think there are still more to find?
Vocabulary
Rubble: broken bits and pieces of anything, as that which is demolished
Fossil: any remains, impression, or trace of a living thing of a former geologic age, as a skeleton, footprint, etc.
Fossilized: something that has become a fossil or like a fossil
Curiosities/curios: a curious, rare, or novel thing
Snakestones: colloquial name for a piece of porous material popularly supposed to neutralize the toxic effect of a snakebite; a fine-grained stone used for polishing marble and as a whetstone
Devil’s fingers: colloquial name for Belemnite fossils. Belemnites were marine animals belonging to the phylum Mollusca and the class Cephalopoda. Their closest living relatives are squid and cuttlefish.
Verteberries: colloquial name for fossilized vertebrae, or spinal bones
Landslides: the downward falling or sliding of a mass of soil, detritus, or rock on or from a steep slope
Video content
The true story of Mary Anning: The girl who helped discover dinosaurs | BBC Ideas (YouTube, 3:39m)
Mary Anning - Princess of Paleontology - Extra History (YouTube, 9:34m)
Fossil Fridays - Ep. 30 Mary Anning's Discoveries (YouTube, 3:15m)
Publisher content
Activities
Photo Credit: Sarah Glenn Marsh
Sarah Glenn Marsh
Author
www.sarahglennmarsh.com
Sarah Glenn Marsh is the author of many books for young readers, including A Campfire Tail, Selfie Sebastian, and The Big Girl: Maria Merian’s Scientific Vision. She lives in Richmond, Virginia, with her husband and their menagerie: four rescued sighthounds, a bird, and many fish.
Maris Wicks
Illustrator
www.mariswicks.com
Maris Wicks is a writer and illustrator of science comics, as well as a self-proclaimed gigantic nerd. She has written, drawn, and colored comics for First Second Books, New England Aquarium and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, as well as Spongebob Comics, Marvel Comics, and DC Comics. Wicks is the illustrator of The New York Times Bestselling book Primates (2013), written by Jim Ottaviani. Her latest graphic novel, Human Body Theater (2015), is a 240-page rollicking romp through the major systems of the human body (told in comics format, of course). Her newest book is Coral Reefs (2016). Wicks also has an ongoing collaboration with science communicator/comic artist Rosemary Mosco to bring you Your Wild City, a weekly webcomic about urban ecology.
Companion books
DINOSAUR NAMED RUTH:
How Ruth Mason Discovered Fossils in Her Own Backyard
Julia Lyon, illus. by Alexandra Bye. S&S/McElderry, 2021
DINOSAURS ARE NOT EXTINCT: Real Facts About Real Dinosaurs
Drew Sheneman.
HarperCollins, 2020
BLAST OFF! How Mary Sherman Morgan Fueled America into Space
Suzanne Slade,
illus. by Sally Wern Comport.
Calkins Creek, 2022
THE FOSSIL WHISPERER:
How Wendy Sloboda Discovered a Dinosaur
Helaine Becker,
illus. by Sandra Dumais.
Kids Can, 2022