Author: Laurence Anholt
Illustrator: Sheila Moxley
Title: Stone Girl, Bone Girl; The Story of Mary Anning
Publisher: Orchard Books, 1998
Genre: Biography
Pages: 32
Reading Level (Lexile): 520L
This book has not received any awards. I found it within the children’s section under biographies in my local library.
Plot Summary: This colorful biography tells the story of little Mary Anning. She survives a lightning strike when she is just 15 months old and her father knows she is special. She grows up on the cliffs in Dorset, England. She is always digging in the dirt, trying to find interesting things. She ends up finding “the sea monster” the townspeople have always talked about. It ends up being fossils from an ichthyosaur, or “fish lizard” and scientists from all over come to marvel at her findings. Mary had always been made fun of and called “stone girl”, but never cared and kept on doing what she loved. The fossils she found as a young girl can now be found in many museums all over the world.
I had never heard of Mary Anning before and was excited to learn about her life. Her father reminded me of my grandfather. He was a craftsman and made wonderful things for people. My grandfather, too, makes furniture and has a workshop. As a child, I can remember going downstairs to see him working away in his amazing workshop.
Stone Girl, Bone Girl would be a great story to share with students. The illustrations are awesome and really complement the story. I think students would be engaged, especially when she finds the prehistoric fossil. This story could be used to introduce fossils to students and to begin a discussion on dinosaurs. I could foresee using this book with older students as well, because the reading level is a little higher. Students could research more about Mary and her findings, as well as where the fossils she found are located in different museums.
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