Mary Anning books

[Stuckasaurus (Dino Dad Reviews)]

Hey all! I just reviewed a pair of Mary Anning books at my blog Dino Dad Reviews, and I thought I'd start a thread where anybody can add information about interesting books on this most interesting of paleontologists!

Here's a link to my most recent review post, though I'll talk more about these two books below.
(The) Fossil Hunter: a Pair of Mary Anning books



I received a pair of Mary Anning books in the past year, both of which are named (The) Fossil Hunter. Kate Winter's THE Fossil Hunter is written as a fully illustrated storybook, while Cheryl Blackford's Fossil Hunter is a more information-focused children's chapter book.

Winter's paintings are quite lovely, and in addition to the expected scenes, there's some more unique illustrations among them.



Mary's single trip to London gets several pages, which is a part of her story not often emphasized.



There's several fold-out pages, one of which is the pterosaur scene depicted on the front cover, but there's also this really clever "cabinet of curiosities" scene which makes readers feel like they're opening a real fossil cabinet such as collectors of the time would have had.





As I mentioned, Blackford's book is somewhat more focused on presenting as much direct information as possible, and to that end is illustrated mostly with scans of historical documents and illustrations, as well as a few pieces by modern paleoartists like John Sibbick and Mark Witton. Joschua Knüppe's Squaloraja illustration is also used.







I recommend both of these, though if you aren't necessarily interested in storybooks, then Blackford's Fossil Hunter probably has the broader interest to a wider range of audiences.
I go into a little more detail on my blog if you're interested in knowing more about these. See (The) Fossil Hunter.

[HD-man]

and I thought I'd start a thread where anybody can add information about interesting books on this most interesting of paleontologists!

That reminds me: I'm surprised you haven't reviewed Watson's Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Reptiles or Bakker's remake (which I reviewed: https://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=2210.msg251752#msg251752 ), given that both present the story of Mary Anning's Jurassic discoveries.

Like Dinosaur Lady and Stone Girl, Bone Girl, the subtitle and a couple of pages in the book attempt to shoehorn dinosaurs into Mary's story, though not egregiously so. It's relatively clear from the information provided that dinosaurs are tangential to Mary's discoveries, even as the book uses them to attract laypeople who don't necessarily know better.

0 stars, certified rotten!   JK, but from the looks of it, I'd definitely prefer Blackford's book, partly b/c it's illustrated by Witton ( https://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=2210.msg365725#msg365725 ).

[Stuckasaurus (Dino Dad Reviews)]

That reminds me: I'm surprised you haven't reviewed Watson's Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Reptiles or Bakker's remake (which I reviewed: https://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=2210.msg251752#msg251752 ), given that both present the story of Mary Anning's Jurassic discoveries.

Gah, I know, I'm so far behind on many classics! I go through bursts of higher and lower productivity.

[Libraraptor]

This is a little German children´s book in which Mary has an appearance. It´s about strong women in paleontology:

https://www.klett-kinderbuch.de/buecher/details/ein-t-rex-namens-sue.html

And in my upcoming book, I´ll be interviewing Anya Pearson about the obstacles and feelings involved in fundraising and actually bringing a statue of Mary to Lyme Regis. Before the interview there´ll be a little vita of Mary (in German speaking countries she is still not known too well) and what she means to me personally.

[Justin_]

There's another children's book on Mary Anning, in the Little People, Big Dreams series:

https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9780711255517



For adults, there's Tracy Chevalier's novel from 2010 about her, although I don't know how accurate it is: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9780007178384



And this is a good general book about Victorian paleontology: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Reading-the-Rocks-by-Brenda-Maddox/9781408879559

[HD-man]

Just found out about this 1. The cover art looks iffy to me:

[Stuckasaurus (Dino Dad Reviews)]

Just found out about this 1. The cover art looks iffy to me:

Yeah, I've reviewed that one before. It's among my least favorite Mary Anning books.

Dino Dad Reviews: Stone Girl, Bone Girl