Rare Treasure: Mary Anning and Her Remarkable Discoveries

As he did in Alice Ramsey's Grand Adventure, Brown once again salutes a spunky heroine who made history, this time focusing on Mary Anning's archeological finds and their relevance to prehistoric research. He drives home the point that 200 years after her birth in 1799, Mary Anning and her contributions continue to inform the scientific community. Unlike Laurence Anholt's recent Stone Girl, Bone Girl, Brown's succinct text downplays the early death of Mary's father, focusing instead on her commitment to carrying on his fossil-hunting legacy, and plays up her partnership with her older brother, Joseph. The limited palette of blues, grays and browns effectively serves double duty, successfully contrasing the poverty of the Anning family with the richness of the seaside digging sites, while also setting off the fossil discoveries, which are recorded on parchment-like paper with hand-lettered labels. Aspiring scientists will be encouraged by this inspiring portrayal of a woman who made a childhood passion into her life's work. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)