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showell's review against another edition
4.0
Stone Girl, Bone Girl tells the story of Mary Anning, an extraordinarily prolific fossil hunter born in England in 1799. When Mary began fossil hunting, she did not understand the significance of what she was finding. She was just hunting for curiosities, which she could sell to tourists in Lyme to make a bit of money for her extremely poor family.
Her first major find came at the age of 12, when she uncovered an ichthyosaur. Over the years as she continued to hunt in and around the cliffs of Lyme Regis, Mary Anning found hundreds of fossils, including plesiosaurs, pterosaurs, and several more ichthyosaurs. Although she herself never left Lyme Regis, the fossils Mary found made their way to museums worldwide and contributed to the work of many of the major scientists of the day. Among them was Charles Darwin, who used her fossils to help develop the theory of evolution, which he described in his book, On the Origin of Species, published in 1859.
The good:
I found this book nearly as interesting as my daughter, and so, didn't mind reading it to her as many times as she asked. My daughter loved that Mary Anning found her first important fossil at the tender age of 12. I love that she hunted for it despite being laughed at by the other children, and that she persisted in fossil hunting even though it was an odd thing for a woman, much less a 12-year-old girl, to do in early 19th C England. And we both enjoyed the illustrations, which are dramatic and imaginative.
What I didn't care for:
The mysticism surrounding the dog. I didn't much care for the dog being presented as the spirit of Mary's father, come to comfort her after his death and find the ichthyosaur for her. And of course, now that I know that it was really Joseph, Mary's brother who found the ichthyosaur, I like the way Anholt presented Mary's dog even less. (Joseph apparently didn't like fossil hunting and was content to allow his sister to take the credit.)
That said, many details of Mary Anning's life obviously had to be compressed or omitted altogether to fit the 24 pages allotted to it. What is told is told well, and left both of us wanting to know more about this remarkable woman. And that, in the end, is what you want a biography written for children to do.
(Review originally published on my blog: Caterpickles.com -- Scientific & Linguistic Engagement with a 4 Year Old Mind)
Her first major find came at the age of 12, when she uncovered an ichthyosaur. Over the years as she continued to hunt in and around the cliffs of Lyme Regis, Mary Anning found hundreds of fossils, including plesiosaurs, pterosaurs, and several more ichthyosaurs. Although she herself never left Lyme Regis, the fossils Mary found made their way to museums worldwide and contributed to the work of many of the major scientists of the day. Among them was Charles Darwin, who used her fossils to help develop the theory of evolution, which he described in his book, On the Origin of Species, published in 1859.
The good:
I found this book nearly as interesting as my daughter, and so, didn't mind reading it to her as many times as she asked. My daughter loved that Mary Anning found her first important fossil at the tender age of 12. I love that she hunted for it despite being laughed at by the other children, and that she persisted in fossil hunting even though it was an odd thing for a woman, much less a 12-year-old girl, to do in early 19th C England. And we both enjoyed the illustrations, which are dramatic and imaginative.
What I didn't care for:
The mysticism surrounding the dog. I didn't much care for the dog being presented as the spirit of Mary's father, come to comfort her after his death and find the ichthyosaur for her. And of course, now that I know that it was really Joseph, Mary's brother who found the ichthyosaur, I like the way Anholt presented Mary's dog even less. (Joseph apparently didn't like fossil hunting and was content to allow his sister to take the credit.)
That said, many details of Mary Anning's life obviously had to be compressed or omitted altogether to fit the 24 pages allotted to it. What is told is told well, and left both of us wanting to know more about this remarkable woman. And that, in the end, is what you want a biography written for children to do.
(Review originally published on my blog: Caterpickles.com -- Scientific & Linguistic Engagement with a 4 Year Old Mind)
compass_rose's review against another edition
3.0
The kids and I are studying Mary Anning. We've read a couple of versions of her story. This one is well-told and illustrated, but not my favorite -- mostly because some of the major points of Mary's story are left out or changed (most curious is her brother's unnecessary absence). But I do appreciate that this one brings in the Philpot Sisters and her dad, which some others do not.
2019 - read again. Still annoyed by some of the omissions and liberties the author takes. But, it is a story, not a reference book -- should be shelved historical fiction, not non-fiction.
2019 - read again. Still annoyed by some of the omissions and liberties the author takes. But, it is a story, not a reference book -- should be shelved historical fiction, not non-fiction.
krisrae's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
libraryrobin's review against another edition
3.0
Excellent cross-curricular book of a young girl's discovery of an ichthyosaur in the early 1800s.
melaniegaum's review against another edition
4.0
I love to read books about Mary Anning. This one had wonderful illustrations and was written quite well, but important people and details were left out or simply wrong. I don't know why the author chose to make her dog Tray somewhat mystical and disappear in the end.
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