Welcome evidence that paleontology is about more than dinosaurs.
Scientific investigation of a quarry in Nebraska reveals that 12 million years ago it was a very different world.
Science writer Stevens describes the process of finding and identifying a treasure trove of extinct animals—full skeletons—buried in volcanic ash from an eruption in today’s Idaho. There were rhinos, horses, camels, saber-toothed deer, birds, turtles, and even bone-crushing beardogs. She recounts the ways scientists have worked together and separately since 1953 to excavate specimens, date ash layers, deduce animal behavior, figure out their environment, and identify the volcano. Poison Ivy Quarry became Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park, where fossils continue to be revealed but are left in place; visitors can observe the ongoing research. Realistically, she includes some of the hiccups and dead ends. She introduces scientists, interns, and students from various fields. Her clear exposition includes examples of the clues that inform their deductions about the animals and their environment, helping readers understand how these researchers arrive at their conclusions. She explains less-familiar techniques, concepts, and equipment such as topographic maps, radioactive dating, convergent evolution, scanning electron microscopes, plate tectonics, and ground-penetrating radar. Specialized vocabulary is printed in boldface and defined both in context and in a glossary. Huynh’s brush-and-ink paintings are an inspired addition to this account of the work of re-creating a long-distant history; there are also helpful black-and-white photographs.
Welcome evidence that paleontology is about more than dinosaurs. (author’s note, resources, acknowledgments) (Nonfiction. 9-14)Pub Date: July 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-26657-6
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Godwin Books
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
This addition to the pantheon of great hoaxes, such as The War of the Worlds Halloween broadcast, reveals a perpetual human...
The remarkable, true story of a fairy hoax successfully perpetrated by two young girls in the early 1900s offers a fascinating examination of human nature.
It began innocently enough; cousins Frances, 9, and Elsie, 15, took pictures of cutout paper fairies in order to get their families to stop teasing Frances, who claimed to have seen real ones in the woods behind their house. It escalated when Elsie's mother mentioned at a Theosophist meeting that her daughter had taken a picture of fairies, perhaps not anticipating the ensuing furor. Eventually, a number of otherwise intelligent adults came to believe these photos were real, most prominent among them Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It's an incredible story, but this compelling account explains step-by-step how the situation escalated; as time went on, more people became personally and financially invested, and it was increasingly difficult for the girls to consider coming clean. The narrative is matter-of-fact and reserves judgment on the perpetrators as well as their credulous public. The fairy photos are reproduced, allowing readers to see exactly what people at the time saw.
This addition to the pantheon of great hoaxes, such as The War of the Worlds Halloween broadcast, reveals a perpetual human fascination with the supernatural and a strong desire to believe in the unseen. (Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: March 27, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5670-6
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
Should attract aspiring adventurers.
After showcasing risk-taking gals in Women Daredevils (2007), Cummins introduces 10 “dauntless” women born before 1900 whose little-known deeds “contribut[ed] to science, geography, history, and cultural understanding” at a time when “proper ladies simply did not go gallivanting around the world to explore new territories.”
Starting with Louise Boyd, who traded stylish dresses for boots and breeches to explore the Arctic, and closing with Daisy Bates, who studied Australian Aborigines for 35 years, Cummins presents breezy three-to-four–page biographies of her unconventional females. The variety of their endeavors astound. Nellie Cashman “rushed” for gold in British Columbia, the Klondike and Alaska; botanist Ynes Mexia collected thousands of plants in the wilderness of Mexico, the United States and the Amazon; Lucy Cheesman sojourned with cannibals while studying insects in the South Pacific. Suffragist Annie Peck scaled Europe and South America’s highest peaks. Dutch heiress Alexandrine Tinné searched for the Nile’s source and was murdered traversing the Sahara. Delia Akeley became the first woman to cross Africa. Violet Cressy-Marcks made eight trips around the world, and Freya Stark traveled throughout the Middle East. In an engaging, informative style, Cummins highlights fascinating facts about these feisty females “who conquered the unknown.” Dramatic watercolor illustrations memorialize each.
Should attract aspiring adventurers. (author’s note and list of additional female explorers; selected bibliography, websites) (Collective biography. 9-11)Pub Date: Feb. 16, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3713-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
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