Are the Dinosaurs Dead, Dad? and Other Prehistoric Picture Books

In Are the Dinosaurs Dead, Dad? young Dave's uneventful trip to the museum takes an unlikely and entertaining twist. From the book's inside flap:

Dad takes Dave to the museum to see the dinosaurs. Dad is sure he knows all there is to know about these amazing creatures. But soon Dave gets the feeling that Dad has one hugely important fact very, very wrong.

Because, you see, as Dad and Davey pass each dino, the dino seems to come to life!

This is one of those terrific books that relies upon dramatic irony via the illustrations, because Julie Middleton's text doesn't let on to what's happening. Young readers, however, can certainly see for themselves that toes, tails, and terrible jaws are moving! During a read-aloud, a "knowing" adult will wisely avoid  being in on the joke, as children love to scream and point out the "secrets" that adults (because of their advanced age and failing eyesight) apparently don't notice for themselves.

Artist Russell Ayto's whimsical images are half the fun, showing us giant-headed monsters balanced on impossibly tiny legs. The creatures' equally understated, overstated, and improbably body part dimensions are fun to discuss as well. The format is large, with plenty of open space on each spreads that lends credibility to the size of the space and the dinosaurs themselves.

Below you'll find some terrific companion books with activity extensions that could work equally well with Are the Dinosaurs Dead, Dad? In addition to being mistaken about dinos, some adults are also mistaken in thinking you can ever have enough dinosaur books!

Cretaceous Companions

For the younger set, Harry and the Dinosaurs Go to School by Ian Whybrow is a wonderful combination of a dino book and a first-day-of-school-jitters book. Harry's toy dinos help him makes new friends, and even assist another shy boy in acclimating to his new surroundings. Adrian Reynolds' bright and sunny illustrations are perfect for sharing and discussing during read-alouds. Check out other titles in this series including Harry and the Dinosaurs Say, "Raahh!" and Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs.

Extensions:

• Students can bring in one of their own "prized possessions" and discuss what makes it special. 
• Students might want to create their own simple paper plate dinosaurs, which can be displayed with a colorful bucket on the bulletin board. 
• Students could imagine that they have a real, live dinosaur for a pet. How would that work? How would you feed him? Where would he sleep?
• Looking for a fun and easy cooking project? Check out these fossil cookies.

Marvelous, Monstrous Models

The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins by Barbara Kerley with illustrations by Brian Selznick ("many of which are based on the original sketches of Mr. Hawkins"). Working with scientist Richard Owens, Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins wanted to create such perfect models of dinosaurs that anyone who gazed at his creations would see into the past. By using just the bits and pieces of fossils, bones, and teeth that had been found by early palaeontologists, Waterhouse filled in "gaps" by thinking of existing animals which the dinosaurs might have resembled. This book chronicles his triumphal premiere in the Crystal Palace at Sydenham Park (when tens of thousands of spectators, including the Queen, gaped in wonder at his creatures), as well as his tragedy in Central Park (when vandals under the vindictive order of Boss Tweed destroyed his dinosaurs destined for the Americans). Although we now realize that many of Waterhouse's guesses were somewhat inaccurate, no one can dispute his ability to light the imaginations of the thousands who viewed his works.

For more explorations into what we've learned about dinosaurs since the earliest days of their discovery, check out Boy, Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs by Kathleen Kudlinksi and S.D.Schindler.A terrific book for helping students understand that science never rests!

Extensions:

• Students can use clay to design their own dinosaurs. They don't need to sculpt one specific, real-life dino; instead, they should simply use their imaginations to create an original prehistoric monster. Since scientist continue to discover new dinosaurs all the time, who's to say what the next dino discovery might look like?
• Students might also enjoy building their own prehistoric pasta pets. Show students pictures of assembled dino skeletons in museums. Explain that while these models take many years to collect, piece together, and display, today students will create their own models using pasta as bones. Given a wide variety of different pasta shapes, students can assemble their own dinos by gluing their selected noodles to black construction paper. Once partially dry, the pasta will need a second coat to affix it well to the paper. 
• For a look at how those dinosaurs get to the museum, check out the book (coincidentally called) How the Dinosaur Got to the Museum by Jessie Hartland. This book explains how dinosaur bones go from the earth to you, the museum visitor, via fourteen other people, who are named and collected in a House-that-Jack-Built type progression.

Bold and Beautiful

A wonderful abecedarium can be discovered in An Alphabet of Dinosaurs by Peter Dodson, with paintings by Wayne D. Barlowe. Familiar favorites mix with newcomer neighbors on full spreads that features two text sections (one for emerging readers and another for fluent readers) and a full color illustration. The vivid and uniquely imagined colors and patterns of these dinos is what caught my eye when I first viewed this book. In the books' introduction we read: "The paintings in this book show the dinosaurs as we now think of them. Gone is the image of slow-moving giants. Gone is the picture of tail-dragging lizards. Instead, we see vibrant, active dinosaurs living in a world filled with brightly colored animals and plants.

Extensions: 

• Taking a cue from this book, students can create their own unique dino patterns on simple coloring sheets. They can either color with vivid colors (danger! stay back!, bold colors (look at me!), muted colors (I need to hide), or patterns which create camouflage (to avoid being seen by prey or predator).
• Older students can be given a simple white dino silhouette (shape) and a variety of a magazine from which to choose pictures. After choosing a large picture which can serve as a background, students will color in their dino shape to camouflage into the background.

Dino for a Day

In Jim Murphy's Dinosaur for a Day, older readers can explore a typical day in the life of a Hypsilophodon, a 90 pound herd animal that depended upon its wits and its companions for survival. Additional information from the author precedes and follows this din's "biography," providing for a complete profile of one specific creature. Mark Alan Weatherby's gorgeous paintings put us at dinosaur's-eye view with our surroundings, a perspective rarely seen in other dino books.

Extensions:

• Have each student choose a dinosaur, and write about "a day in the life of..." Students may need to do some research on which dinosaurs lived in which period, and many students may discover that their dinos and their friends' dinos might have shared the same habitats!
• Instead of a dinosaur, have students choose any other animal (or use an animal they've already researched). Require that students illustrate their "daily routine" with view that would be seen from their critter's perspective.
• Create dino fossils in the classroom.

Modern Monsters

What if dinosaurs were alive today? How would our daily lives be different? In If Dinosaurs Were Alive Today, author Dougal Dixon answers that question with frightening predictions of predatory sea creatures that hunt sperm whales, and tyrannosaurs that terrorize longhorns. The photo-realistic illustrations are amazing as they juxtapose the prehistoric past with the present.

Can you picture yourself flying in a jet across peaceful skies, and suddenly seeing a Quetzalcoatlus, a pterosaur with the wingspan exceeding a small airplane? Can you imagine seeing your trashcan tipped over at the curb, not by a raccoon or even a coyote, but a scavenging carnivorous dino called Coelophysis? Students will love the retouched photos, so disturbingly realistic that one might begin to wonder, "What are the chances of the dinosaurs coming back?"

Extensions:

• Challenge students to draw dinosaurs in modern day settings. How would their traits and habits affect their interactions with people?
• Challenge students to put dinos to work. If they existed today, how could their size and strength be helpful to humans?

Wordless Wonders

Two clever books that tell neat dino tales are Time Flies by Eric Rohmann and Chalk by Bill Thomson.

Extensions:

• The wordless format of both books offers the perfect opportunity for students to tell their own stories. Students can "write" similar books as a group, and tell their own stories.
• Students might also be challenged to write the tales they "see" using poetry rather than prose.

How Do Dinosaurs...

From Jane Yolen and Mark Teague come the fantastic series of How Do Dinosaurs... books including How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon? and How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? Kids will love all the dinos that Mark Teague includes, and they'll also appreciate the funny and fun-to-recite rhymes of Jane Yolen.

Extension:

• Brainstorm a How to... problem with the class and write a similar story as a group, or challenge pairs or teams to come up with their own ideas (focusing on social skills seems to work well here).

That's Disgusting! Can You Read It Again?

The inspiration for this post is Artie Bennett's new picture book, The Butt Book. It's a funny and informative look at one of our least celebrated body parts (read more about it below). But its very subject matter may be a turn-off to some who might ask, "Why share a picture book about the human bottom?"

As parents, teachers, librarians, and tutors, we know that finding the right book is the key to motivating a child to read. And sometimes, for certain kids, that means a book that is naughty or creepy or sometimes downright gross! So check out my suggestions below, and then keep on reading for extensions and recommended sites to take full advantage of what these books have to offer.

The dilemma of  just right books is central to the plot of Miss Brooks Loves Books by Barbara Bottner. Miss Brooks, a lover of books, is a librarian who always goes the extra mile, dressing as an elephant to read Babar, a monster to read Where the Wild Things are, and a jack-o-lantern to share Halloween books.

But our diminutive, contrary protagonist is unimpressed. Neither these antics, nor her peers' animated theatrics during Book Week, move Missy to read a book. Books that other children find fascinating are too flowery (fairies), too furry (dogs), too clickety (trains), or too yippity (cowboys) for Missy.

Mother tries to help as well, sharing books that Miss Brooks recommends, but even she reaches wit's end. Mother declares, "You're as stubborn as a wart."

Missy jolts to life. Warts? "I want to read a story with warts!" exclaims Missy. The natural choice for a book? Shrek, of course! Missy loves that Shrek has warts and hairs on his nose, and that he snorts! Miss Brooks is glad that her most reluctant reader has finally discovered a book she loves, and she promises Missy that she's still destined to find many more books that are "funny and fantastic and appalling."

The Butt Book is certainly funny and fantastic, and features a not-at-all-naughty and surprisingly academic tribute to our often overlooked posterior. Its clever rhymes and Mike Lester's bold and beautiful images make it an instant hit!

I happened to preview some of the pages online while sitting in a meeting at school. Another teacher, reading over my shoulder, burst into laughter. "What book is that?" she asked. "It looks hilarious!"

And it is! Its euphemisms, histories, and practical purposes make it a very serious study of human anatomy, and beyond its value as a read-aloud (plan to read it again and again!), I think it has the possibility to spark some interesting extensions in reading, writing, and science.

But, Keith, c'mon! What about its subject matter? What about the very topic of this book?

To respond, let me share a portion of a review by Thurston Dooley III in The Brooklyn Paper:

No doubt, there are parents who will worry that Bennett's endless repetition of the word "butt" in all its myriad forms - tuchas, fanny, bottom, heinie, rear - will encourage the youngsters to scream out "butt cheeks!" at inappropriate moments...

In actuality, The Butt Book will actually help remove the word's lingering shock value. For starters, Bennett plays it all for laughs, suggesting that we, not our keisters, are the ones with the butt problem because we are the ones who have "neglected" the butt.

"Funny and fantastic and appalling" also comes to mind for readers of The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Gross Junior Edition. This handy guidebook, perfect for independent readers in grades three and up, features such entries as How to Cope with Nightmare Boogers, How to Tame a Beastly Burp, How to Tell if There's a Mouse in Your House, How to Prevent Pinkeye, and How to Survive a Skunk Encounter. And as they say on television, "But wait! There's more!" The edition concludes with Grossest Human Habits in History and Gross Practical Jokes.

I love that this book doesn't shy away from the gross topics, and actually addresses real-life problems that kids might encounter. But it does it in a fun way, employing nonfiction conventions such as headings, bullets, diagrams, charts, tables, and captions. If we had textbooks this engaging, we'd have a lot more straight A students!

Extension Activities

The Butt Book

I honestly love The Butt Book as a simple read-aloud. It's one of those read-alouds that is its own reward, and it's a book that kids will eagerly read on their own again and again. But if you're looking some extension activities, try these:

• Encourage students to work in small groups to write their own books celebrating other body parts (I highly recommend you choose the parts). There are several things to consider, including content, rhyme, and illustrations. You might choose to use Bennett's book as a model for structuring the original projects, noting with students that Bennett includes synonyms, histories, and practical purposes for the butt. If students are stymied for ideas to get started, have them use one of the resources below.
• Have students visit Wordsmyth, a handy dictionary and thesaurus, to look up a given body part to learn more about its use in American idioms. The entry word ear, for example, produced not only definitions, but also ear to the ground, play it by ear, wet behind the ears, and dog ear. Students can use these expressions to create a poster, mini-book, or digital application (such as Power Point or Photo Story).

• Another terrific way to learn about the use of body names in expressions is to search them using One Look. One Look is a neat dictionary that allows you to search for words and expressions that begin or end with a word. So when I entered the search term * ear, over a hundred results were returned, including bend someone's ear, easy on the ear, can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, cute as a bug's ear, music to my ear, swimmer's ear, and the War of Jenkin's Ear (yes, it involved an actual severed ear). For lower grades, the teacher might pick and choose expressions for student research; in sixth grade I'd send students there to look for themselves.
• Famous Quotes and other quotation sites are excellent resources for illustrations incorporating body parts. Students can include these in any of the above projects, or respond to them in writing prompts.
• Animal anatomy adapts itself to its environment. Rather than focusing on human anatomy, assign students to research animal anatomy and adaptations. Web sites like ESkeleton even let students compare similarities in anatomy of like species. Using a short, online game is a good way to get students thinking about unique bodily adaptations that help animals survive.

Miss Brooks Loves Books

Miss Brooks Loves Books is full of creative ideas for extension:

• Celebrate themed days and weeks, and encourage student participation through costumes, stuffed animals, and related items. I once read aloud at a Barnes and Noble, and encouraged all students attending to bring their teddy bears. They didn't know why, but they all did, and it made the audience-participation version of Going on a Bear Hunt a big hit!
• Host a Book Week. While Missy describes it as "truly terrifying," your students could find it amazingly awesome! Michael Emberly's illustrations should provide some ideas.
• Share more books about reluctant readers. Check out the list featured at Reading Rockets. Many students are comforted to know that they're not alone in their struggles with reading; these stories will inspire them to continue trying.

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Gross Junior Edition

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Gross Junior Edition encourages students to explore the gooey and gross, the smelly and slimy. Encourage student curiosity with these activities:

• Assign students a question about human health. Encourage research by providing resources such as KidsHealth. KidsHealth is a highly respected, reliable source for health information, and it features a kids section filled with videos, interactives, and Q&As all designed to answer students' most pressing health questions. KidzWorld is another student-friendly site featuring short articles on vomit and other gross yet necessary bodily functions, plus disgusting animal defenses.
• Encourage students to create their own entry for this Handbook. It is, after all, a handbook for surviving life's unexpected "nasties," so students might have their own topics to explore and expound upon. Some of the topics covered in the two sites above, or in sites that follow, may give students inspiration. Require also that they incorporate the same conventions found in The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, including titles, headings, bulleted or numbered lists, tables, diagrams, labels, illustrations, and text boxes.

• Explore the wonderful branch of science known as Scatology, or the study of feces. Seriously! Who Pooped is an amazing site which not only lets students solve the mystery of which animal pooped, but also describes (through a video segment) how zoologists use observations of feces to determine an animal's health. Students can even print out a certificate upon completion of the site's tasks.

• Into animal studies but want to steer clear of poop? The KidWings website allows students to virtually dissect owl pellets, the undigested masses of fur and bone regurgitated by these raptors. The latest version of this site makes pulling apart and sorting the pellet simple and educational. Interactive instructional pieces plus many teacher resources make this site an instant winner, high on the "cool" scale, low on the actual "gross" scale.

Additional Resources

Be sure to visit The Yuckiest Site on the Internet for both teacher and student oriented explorations into the gross, and check out Scholastic's recommendations for Icky, Creepy, and Just Plain Gross Science Projects.

Do you know of another site, or another book, to explore the disgusting wonders of our world? We would love to hear from you! Leave a comment below.

Exploring Invention with Picture Books

Recently my sixth graders began researching ancient civilizations, and one topic which seemed to excite them was the inventions created thousands of years ago that we still use today. That's not surprising; children, after all, are born creators. So what better way to end the school year than by giving students opportunities to be artists and inventors?

Recommended Books

The best way to get students excited about invention is to provide loads of fabulously illustrated books on the topic. One of my new favorites is A Native American Thought of It: Amazing Inventions and Innovations, by Rocky Landon and David MacDonald (Annick Press). By now we all know that moccasins, canoes, and snow shoes were invented by Native Americans, but how many of us knew that these amazingly adaptive people also created syringes, diapers, and hockey? This inviting book contains lots of awesome pictures and just enough information to get students hooked.

Equally exciting is the companion book The Inuit Thought of It: Amazing Arctic Innovations by Alootook Ipellie and David MacDonald (Annick Press). In a land where it rarely gets above freezing, and much of each apart of the year is spent in either 24 hour darkness or light, you need to be pretty clever in order to survive with the limited resources nature provides. In addition to being fantastic reads for an invention theme, both of these picture books fit in well with the theme of survival.

Invention, of course, goes beyond rudimentary survival. Later scientists and inventors would seek to improve upon the ways that people live and work. Alfred Nobel: The Man Behind the Peace Prize, for example, is a short yet intriguing account of the man who invented dynamite. From the inside cover:

Alfred Nobel was born in Sweden in 1833. A quick and curious mind, combined with a love of science and chemistry, drove him to invent numerous technological devices throughout his long life. But he is perhaps most well known for his invention of dynamite.

Intending it to help safely advance road and bridge construction, Nobel saw his most famous invention used in the development of military weaponry. After reading a newspaper headline mistakenly announcing his death, Nobel was inspired to leave a legacy of another sort.

Even middle school students will appreciate how author Kathy-Jo Wargin and illustrator Zachary Pullen capture Nobel's life story in concise picture book format. As an extension activity, students might research a winner of the Peace Prize (all listed in the back of the book) and create a similar picture book format biography. (For other extension ideas, visit the Sleeping Bear Press site for the free, downloadable teaching guide to accompany the book).

Closer to the heart of many children (certainly my own!) would be The Boy Who Invented TV: The Story of Philo Farnsworth, written by Kathleen Krull and illustrated by Greg Couch (Knopf Books for Young Readers). For many years Farnsworth's innovations and discoveries went unheralded, and yet he was truly a pioneer in his field (there's an inside joke there if you've read the book).

In addition to the supplemental materials at the book's end, be sure to check out the teacher's guide for this book, which includes an interview with the author. You might recall that Kathleen Krull is the talented author of Lincoln Tells a Joke: How Laughter Saved the President (and the Country); I recommended that title in a post about persuasive writing. She's also the author of four fab titles in the Giants of Science Series: Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton, and Sigmund Freud. Yes, we've seen all of these folks written up before, but Krull's approach is a fresh one that makes these "old, dead scientists" come to life for today's students.

Recommended Sites and Activities for Observing and Researching
(Stuff to Read and Discuss)

History of Invention
The History of Invention shows students just how old some of our innovations are! What invention, not pictured at the site, will your students investigate?

PBS Technology at Home
Take an interactive tour through the 20th century to see how technology changed the American home.

Inventive Kids
Cool interactive games to learn about inventors and inventions (lots of women inventors!).

PBS Kids Wayback
At Wayback, Students learn about tech circa 1900. Many fascinating innovations came about at this time!

The Secret Life of Scientists
I recently blogged on The Secret Life of Scientists at my Teaching that Sticks site. Kids will dig learning how modern, real-life scientists are putting their passions to work in the field. By way of example, check out scientist Nate Ball.

New Scientist Video
New Scientist video channel at Youtube features short video features of the latest in scientific advances.

Franklin's Interactive Lifetime
An interactive timeline about Benjamin Franklin's amazing life and inventions. Lots to see and do here!

Franklin Institute
Online and off-line activities for science learning from the Franklin Institute.

Kid Inventors' Day
Kid Inventors' Day is January 17 each year (mark that on your calendar!). This site features some ways to observe it. You can find more neat videos and ideas for this annual event at the Meet Me at the Corner site.


Recommended Sites and Activities for Playing and Learning
(Stuff to Do Online)

Launchball
At Launchball, students learn about the common properties of objects as well as electronics as they attempt to meet the challenge of each level in this addicting, physics based game.

Bloxorz
Addicting to say the least, Bloxorz requires that students manipulate various elements of a levitating path to move a block to its destination. Easier said than done, and twice as fun.

EdHeads
Edheads features cool, interactive, online explorations with simple machines (and some other neat experiments as well).

Invention Playhouse
The Invention Playhouse features cool ideas to explore online.

Recommended Sites and Activities for Doing and Learning
(Stuff to Do Hands-On, Off-Line!)

Instructables
Instructables are easy-to-do, fun experiments, explained through whole-page, full-color cartoons. (Check out the cool Underwater Viewer pictured here).

Whelmers
Whelmers are really cool science activities which require minimum materials to achieve maximum wow effect.

Hunkin's Experiments
Hunkin's Experiments is a one-stop shop for some really cool experiments. Simple cartoons (as fun as the experiments themselves) walk you through the steps.

ADDED 5/24/10:
Surfing Scientist
Surfing Scientist is a popular show and site in Australia, but not as well known here in U.S. Really cool experiments to be done with easy-to-find objects, with full explanations of the scientific principles.

Science Girls: Women with Vision

Nothing speaks louder than a good role model. As a teacher and a father, I absolutely believe that. That's also why I love picture books which retell the lives of men and women who, from their very childhoods, proved themselves to be innovative, independent, and incredibly resolute.

So while this post (and the next) might be seen as my "doing the Women's History bit," I truly believe that these biographies can serve a universal role in helping students realize that childhood dreams and interests can determine the paths they follow as adults.

Take, for example, Julia Morgan, who as a child loved to build. To her, buildings were huge puzzles, and she wanted to know how all the pieces fit together. Greatly influenced by her father, an engineer, and her cousin Pierre LeBrun, an architect who designed many of Manhattan's stone churches and its first skyscrapers, Julia dreamed of becoming an architect.

The book Julia Morgan Built a Castle, written by Celeste Davidson Mannis and illustrated by Miles Hyman, chronicles Julia's dogged determination to first enter the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and to then be accepted as a competent professional (unlikely for a woman in the early 1900's). Her success in both endeavors is inspiring to read; the glowing, sculpturesque forms in Miles Hyman's gorgeous images make this book a satisfying journey through the life of one remarkable woman.

Morgan was a tireless architect who completed hundreds of projects while simultaneously working on William Randolph Hearst's incredible San Simeon estate (the "castle" of the book's title), which required twenty eight years to complete. In her design, Morgan ingeniously suspended the estate's massive 345,000 gallon Neptune Pool from steel reinforced concrete beams so that it would sway, rather than buckle, during California's frequent earthquakes.

Marvelous Mattie: How Margaret E. Knight Became an Inventor, written and illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully, describes how a curious girl became one of America's most prolific inventors. Emily Arnold McCully helps readers see that Mattie's childhood fascinations with how common things work (a sled, a kite, a foot warmer) fueled her adolescent desire to improve the way machinery operated. While working in a textile mill at age twelve, for example, Mattie witnessed a serious injury when a rogue shuttle shot from a loom and struck a friend in the head. Young Mattie mulls the problem over, and her solution, a metal guard, is adopted by all of the factories in Manchester. Injuries from flying shuttles ceased immediately.

Mattie's later invention of a machine designed to create flat-bottomed paper bags (yes, those same bags we still use today) revolutionized the industry. Earlier flat bags had to be held with one hand when packing, and ripped easily when overfilled. When she tries to file her patent for the machine, however, Mattie finds herself in a patent war with a man who most certainly stole her idea just days earlier. Fortunately, Mattie's detailed diagrams and meticulous notes prove her "priority of invention," and from that point forward she pursues a life as a professional inventor. Her obituary refers to her as "the Lady Edison."

Stone Girl, Bone Girl: The Story of Mary Anning, written by Laurence Anholt and illustrated by Sheila Moxley, provides readers with an even more extensive look at a scientist's childhood. This makes perfect sense with Mary Anning, however, since she was only twelve when she discovered the fossil of a great sea monster on the coast of England. This ichthyosaur would be just the first of hundreds of rare fossilized animals Anning would uncover over her lifetime.

But the road to her success was not an easy one. At the age of fifteen months, Mary survived a bolt of lightning which killed her nurse and two other girls. Her father, who encouraged her interest in fossils, died when she was just a girl. The children who should have been her friends teased her, calling out, "Stone Girl, Bone Girl, Out-on-your-own Girl!" Despite these obstacles, Mary Anning pursued her passion for the past, paving the way for other scientists in the field of evolution.

If you dig (pardon the pun) that story, you might also be interested in two other versions of Mary Anning's story. Catherine Brighton's The Fossil Girl: Mary Anning's Dinosaur Discovery tells the story of Mary's discovery through graphic novel format, complete with frames and speech bubbles. Mary Anning and the Sea Dragon, written by Jeannine Atkins with pictures by Michael Dooling, presents a much more mysterious, shrouded England, offering the reader just the slightest glimpse of the actual ichthyosaur. The emphasis is more on Mary's determination to see the job through. Teachers might consider sharing all three versions with students to generate discussion about choices made by writers and illustrators alike.

If you're seeking a book aimed at more independent readers, look no further than Jane Goodall: Researcher Who Champions Chimps, written and illustrated by Mike Venezia. (This book is from Getting to Know the World's Greatest Inventors and Scientists, just one of the excellent biography series created by Venezia).

From her earliest childhood, Jane dreamed of traveling to Africa to study the animals of that continent. Jane's father was a race car driver, often absent from the home scene, so Jane and her mother would spend hours in the garden observing plants, insects, and small mammals. Later, when evacuated from London during the bombings of World War II, Jane spent time exploring the rocky cliffs and pine forests of Bournemouth. She and her friends even formed a nature club, where a favorite pursuit was racing snails. During this time she continued to feed her imagination with tales of Tarzan and Dr. Doolittle.

Eventually Jane traveled to Africa where she met the legendary Dr. Louis Leakey and his wife, Mary. Leakey assigned her the task of observing chimps in a remote area, previously unexplored by human beings. Goodall's discoveries about those creatures amazed even Leakey himself. Jane was one of the first scientists to observe, for example, that chimps created and used tools. Scientists had believed that only humans did this!

Jane Goodall: Researcher Who Champions Chimps differs from the other books listed here in one special way: it introduces students to many standard conventions of nonfiction text: bold words, captions, a glossary, and an index. For that reason, this book would serve as a terrific transitional text to more formal textbooks which students will be seeing as they progress through school.

An equally intrepid yet much less celebrated explorer of Africa is brought to life in Uncommon Traveler: Mary Kingsley in Africa, one of many fascinating biographies written and illustrated by Don Brown. Unlike Jane Goodall, Mary Kingsley experienced a childhood which was by all measures bleak and uninspiring: her mother was constantly bed-ridden, her father was habitually traveling, and her brother was simply absent (sent off to school, although he was younger than Mary). Mary's only companionship were the many books in her father's library, and she devoured them (though how she even learned to read was a mystery).

With the passing of her mother, Mary was finally free of all obligations. Her dream? To explore West Africa. At the time such an enterprise was unthinkable, for West Africa was a land hostile even to its own people. How could a woman, a single woman for that matter, survive? But survive she did. Mary battled crocs, swam with hippos (not intentionally!), tumbled from a ledge through a thatched roof, stumbled into a spike-filled animal trap, was thrown from a canoe, and survived all manner of insects and other discomforts. She not only lived to tell her tale, but to write it as well, in two books which became best sellers. Her collected specimens not only filled her own home, but the showcases of the British Museum of Natural History as well. Mary was thirty when her mother died, and passed away herself at age thirty-eight, yet she lived more in those eight years than most people do in a lifetime!

The following questions might prove useful in discussing any of the three books above:

• What are your interests? How might those interests affect what you choose to do for a living?
• What is success? How does a person become successful?
• What kinds of things might create obstacles, or problems, for someone who is trying to pursue their dreams?
• Did women always have the same opportunities as men? What were some jobs that women were expected to do? What were some jobs reserved for men alone?
• This book begins by telling us about _____'s childhood. Why do you think the author started there? 
• Was following her dream difficult? What made it so hard? Who or what may have encouraged her, and convinced her to continue?
• What is determination? How was it exemplified through this _______'s actions?
• If this woman were alive today, what advice might she give us?
• Let's look again at the illustrations. How do they help us understand the story better? What information do the illustrations supply that the text doesn't? How did the book's illustrator know what these events looked like?
• What other information does the author provide?
• What questions do we still have about ___________?
• If ___________ were alive today, what would surprise her most about how the world has changed since her time?
• If we had to give __________ a nickname, what would we choose?

As a follow up activity, students could create a new book jacket for any of these books. You might even consider covering the book's actual cover while reading it aloud, and only uncovering it later once all students have completed their designs. At ReadWriteThink you'll find a nice interactive which explains the elements of a traditional picture book cover, and you can additionally have students create the entire book cover online (or just a cover or back) using the cool interactive Book Cover Creator. (Personally, I might have some parent helpers cut down some brown paper shopping bags, and use the reverse blank sides for the project; this would be a neat homage to Margaret Knight).

Women's Adventures in Science features a cool look at real, live scientists practicing in their fields. Students can choose from Ten Scientists, and each is linked to a kid-friendly site featuring a biography, videos, games, and related links. These biographies are rich, and definitely made for the Grade 3 and above crowd. As a class project, students could be paired and assigned a scientist to research using this site.

You'll also find an Interactive Timeline (1900 to present), which, while not well populated, definitely points out that the number of women in the fields of science has increased dramatically during the last century. The Ask It section allows students to pose their questions about science to real scientists. They can also browse answers to dozens of questions already asked. And, of course, a Games section!

Another terrific site to explore is PBS's very hip SciGirls, which is filled with projects, profiles, and videos featuring women in science. This site is awesome in that it helps students (okay, mostly the girls) realize that they, too, can be scientists, right now! (Note that there is a section on the site which allows girls to interact socially, so standard precautions should be taken to address Internet safety issues). The Teacher's Overview provides a number of different approaches as well as additional resources for using the site.

I personally think a SciGirls club sounds like a pretty awesome idea for a school or homeschool group, and this site would be a great place to start! Don't forget, though, to inspire your girls with some real-life role models, and those provided in the books I've shared are highly recommended.