16th October National Fossil Day

It is National Fossil Day in the USA, not here in Australia. Our National Fossil Day is on 26th June, but whenever it is, fossils fascinate children . This day encourages people of all ages to discover the ancient history preserved in fossils, appreciate the work of palaeontologists, and learn about Earth’s prehistoric past.

Recently, a Year 1 boy told me he had read all the fossil books and mammoth books in the library and he didn't want to borrow anything else. I have tried rocks, dinosaurs, bones, all to no avail, but I do have him reading about Mary Anning, a fossil hunter and other palaeontologists.

We had four picture book biographies about Mary Anning

    

But then when I saw the shortlist for the Klaus Flugge Prize, I saw The Fossil Hunter by Kate Winter and bought it. I was even more pleased when it won. It is a beautiful book. 

• Barnum's Bones by Tracey Fern. P.T. Barnum, was a palaeontologist for the American Museum of Natural History. He discovered the first documented skeleton of the Tyrannosaurus Rex, as well as most of the other dinosaurs on display there today.

• Fossil Huntress: Mary Leakey, Paleontologist by Andi Diehn. 

Mary Leakey, was a palaeontologist who lived and worked for much of her life in Africa, making discoveries that changed the face of palaeontology forever. 

• When Sue Found Sue by Toni Buzzeo. Sue Hendrickson was meant to find things: lost coins, perfume bottles, even hidden treasure. Her endless curiosity eventually led to her career in diving and palaeontology, where she would continue to find things big and small. In 1990, at a dig in South Dakota, Sue made her biggest discovery to date: Sue the T. Rex, the largest and most complete T. Rex skeleton ever unearthed. Named in Sue’s honour, Sue the T. Rex would be placed on permanent exhibition at the Field Museum of Natural History in ChicagoI haven't seen these two books, but you may have them in your library.

I haven't seen these two, but they may be in your library.

• The Bone Wars: the True Story of the Epic Battle to Find Dinosaur Fossils by  Jane Kurtz. 
A scientific battle between two palaeontologists O. C. Marsh and Edward Cope who had met in 1863 and bonded over their shared love of fossils, becoming the best of friends…until the day Marsh discovered an error in Cope’s work, and the Bone Wars began.

 

• A Dinosaur Named Ruth: How Ruth Mason Discovered Fossils in Her Own Backyard  by Julia Lyon