Mary Anning is credited with being the world's first paleontologist. That is, she is recognized now as such; in her day, it was a very different story. Mary was born in England in 1799, and she lived with her family near the seashore. She spent her days finding “curiosities” that would be sold in their local shop. These curiosities ended up being fossils and dinosaur bones. Mary never had any schooling, and her family was quite poor; they often needed the proceeds she made from her fossil sales. However, Mary was highly intelligent and motivated, so she studied independently and learned all she could about these bones and fossils. Unfortunately, living in a male-dominated society, Mary never was given the accolades or respect she deserved for her work in the field. With this book, Stemple strives to do so and sets out to honor Mary’s contributions to the sciences. She had incredible finds and while others took credit for her work, it didn’t stop her from pressing on. This book tells her story well, and the pictures clearly show that Mary was left out of the conversations, through such visuals as an empty chair at the table, a shadow, and more. While the book is engaging and interesting, the information provided in the endnote provides helpful scientific context, a short biography, and additional detail. Note that the author credits a man who helped her family during their times of struggle without providing his name, a deliberate choice because Mary’s name was excluded for so long. In a book for educating children, including information rather than excluding it is the better choice. This book is a good addition to primary or intermediate classroom libraries as a narrative nonfiction picture book.
—School Library Journal
Mary Anning spent her childhood helping her father chisel fossils from the seaside cliffs near
their home on England’s Jurassic Coast. After his death, she continued his work in order to
support her family. Her clients were vacationers looking for souvenirs, as well as scientists (all
men) who saw fossils as a way of studying creatures living on Earth in the distant past. As she
grew older, Anning took an interest in those creatures and formulated theories that others
debated and adopted or rejected. Men studying paleontology received praise for their
“discoveries,” while as a woman, Mary, who had found the fossils, was not allowed to join the
scientific societies or attend the meetings where theories were discussed. She simply returned to
the cliffs, chiseled fossils from the rocks, and sold them to put food on the table for her family. In
the appealing text, Stemple transports readers to early 1800s England, when girls received little
education, “And girls from poor families certainly didn’t become scientists.” Soft, colorful
illustrations support the text. An informative biography with built-in social commentary.
—Booklist
