Cheryl BlackfordFossil Hunter: How Mary Anning Changed the Science of Prehistoric Life

I'm no end of impressed by this well-researched and illustrated biography of Mary Anning and hope it has won the chest of awards it deserves. The language is clear and direct - a glossary of terms is also provided, along with a scholarly biography and even an index. I appreciated the way it established Anning in terms of her historic context without over-reaching the facts. Blackford explains what can and can't be known about, say, how Anning integrated her scientific findings with her Christian faith. Or how she viewed philosophical questions about "former worlds" and mass extinction.While the beautiful cover suggests the contents will be a graphic novel, this is not the case. Rather, the story of Anning's life is illustrated with images from her journals, pictures of her discoveries from museum collections, historic images, and lovely illustrations by John Sibbick of plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs, ammonites, and belemnites swimming in their ancient sea.Yes, this is a book aimed at older children, but my poking around in search of a biography of Anning for adults suggests that this may be one of, if not the best, offerings on hand. So buy it for a dinosaur-obsessed kid, or for yourself and prepare to be thoroughly engaged with Mary Anning and her fabulous finds!

I ordered this book for a book report my daughter was writing. I expected it be pretty superficial as many biographical books can be that are geared for kids. But this book was amazing. Very thorough and yet still approachable. I wish this was part of a series!