Mary Morland in the Time of Dinosaur Discovery

Jane Kurtz was born in Portland, Oregon, but spent most of her childhood in Ethiopia. Jane speaks about being an author at schools and conferences and helped start Ethiopia Reads (EthiopiaReads.org), a nonprofit that has opened the first libraries for children in Ethiopia. She is the author of many books for children, including The Bone Wars, illustrated by Alexander Vidal; What Do They Do with All that Poo?, illustrated by Allison Black; Do Kangaroos Wear Seat Belts?, illustrated by Jane Manning; Anna Was Here; Clara the Triumphant Rhinoceros, illustrated by Claire Messer; and the American Girl book Lanie.  Giselle Potter has illustrated many books, including Once Upon a Fairy Tale House by Mary Lyn Ray, Try It! by Mara Rockliff, All by Himself? by Elana K. Arnold, and Kate and the Beanstalk by Mary Pope Osborne, as well as her own Tell Me What to Dream About, This Is My Dollhouse, and The Year I Didn’t Go to School, about traveling through Italy with her parents’ puppet troupe when she was eight. She lives in Rosendale, New York, with her husband and two daughters. Visit her at GisellePotter.com.

While Mary Morland (1797–1857) was born during a time in which girls were to be seen and seemingly not heard, she broke through those norms and explored the world around her, becoming particularly fascinated with rocks and fossils, illustrating anything that spoke to her and corresponding with scientists in the field of geology. . . . This is an inspiring story of an early pioneer scientist the world should know. The artwork is fun and detailed. The first half of the book points to how unconventional Morland was in her upbringing and then gets more detailed in her adventurous life of fossils and science and raising her children to be as inquisitive as she was. While it touches on how she was not credited for her illustrations that helped scientists understand dinosaurs more, the tone is uplifting in sharing what was not as widely known as it is now. . . . An excellent picture book biography about the beginnings of the study of dinosaurs all thanks to a curious and little-known woman.