Cover Image: Mary Anning

Mary Anning

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Member Reviews

I was sitting in a year one classroom the other week when a children’s dramatisation of the life and times of Mary Anning was shared with the young students.

I was amazed having been myself to Lyme Regis that the name didn’t immediately jump out to me. Then I remembered I had her story myself in the Little People, Big Dreams series. I have now found out my copy and re-read this mini biography and I am desperate to share my review.

Many of the subjects have some worldwide fame and awareness across their own country. There are books on the Queen for goodness sake.

Can I compliment the team that Mary Anning was chosen and her life shared in an earlier copy of this magnificent series I have followed and collected over the years.

Mary in essence is what these set of books is all about. A girl born on the eve of the 19th century in 1799, the tenth child in a poor family, denied an education and largely self-taught. This was indeed a time of change but still a women’s lot was not a promising one. Denied education, independence and the vote. Despite this Mary mastered basic literacy and followed in her Father’s part-time hobby to collect fossils to make a little bit of money from tourists and collectors.

As usual I loved the simple text and well drawn and coloured illustrations. A complex story told well and clearly which highlights a young girl’s struggles and her overcoming nature. That she did so much pioneering work without great reward and scant recognition speaks of her character. But as a role model for others she didn’t wait for others to teach her she was diligent and questioning. Never feeling inferior, with a heart to learn from books and an eye to identify fossils and a speculative mind.

For all the kids disenfranchised and passed over Mary Anning is indeed a young girl who overcome, she can inspire and despite my own ignorance will be a name everyone knows.

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Mary Anning may not be a name that’s heard often, but she is a good person for kids to learn more about!

Mary was born on the southern coast of England on the cusp of the 19th century!
She was the 10th child born in her family and loved searching the seashore for seashells.

Remember that famous tongue twister? Well, this is where it came from!

One day while she was on the shore, she found a tooth that ended up being a fossil and the rest is pretty much, literally history 😂

Mary went on to become the Mother of Paleontology and she has contributed much to the field of paleontology, as well as current paleontologists today.

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Like other books in this series, it is a fun little introduction to inspiring people. Definitely a great way to introduce kids to biographies and a nice read for adults too. I would recommend all the books in this series.

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I have to admit I never heard of Mary Anning before and just found about her and what she archived when I started reading this book.
As I loved the ones I read before so much I just needed to read more of them.
And I loved learning more about not only Mary Anning but about many more people that shaped and inspired the world.

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A big thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing/Frances Lincoln Children's Books for the ARC. I am voluntarily reviewing this book. This is a children's nonfiction book about Mary Anning. She was an amateur paleontologist who made many important discoveries. She was curious and observant. She was lucky to live in a place that had unique fossils. The book is factual but I did not really like it for some reason. Maybe it was the wording or the graphics -I just don't know. There are better books about women paleontologists out there that have great photographs. 3 stars. I found this to be just ok.

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4★
“Mary had discovered the first complete skeleton of a creature that lived in the time of the dinosaurs!”

Mary Anning was born on the wild and windy south coast of England, the tenth child in the family. The pictures show the coastline with its enormous, sandy cliffs.

My Goodreads review includes an illustration captioned:
Mary waving to her father with what she thinks looks like a crocodile tooth

She cleans up the interesting things she finds and sells them to tourists.

My Goodreads review includes an illustration captioned:
She sells seashells by the seashore

Mary didn’t have much chance for schooling, but a customer, who was a wealthy lady, gave her an important book where Mary identified her “crocodile tooth” as a fossil from a much older animal. When she and her brother were fossicking on the beach one day, he found an enormous skull!

My Goodreads review includes an illustration captioned:
“She thought more might be hidden in the sand, and she started digging, day after day.”

She sold her find, a whole skeleton, to a collector.

My Goodreads review includes an illustration captioned:
“The skeleton was a type of marine reptile called ‘Ichthyosaurus’, and it ended up on display at the British Museum.”

She was self-taught (she was just a girl, after all), but she became a recognised expert, and the scientists of the time were happy to receive her findings. But it was a very long time before anyone credited her.

My Goodreads review includes an illustration captioned:
Mary, presenting her papers and teaching the ‘real’ scientists of the day

I first learned about Mary Anning in Tracy Chevalier’s popular Remarkable Creatures, which I read some years ago. That got me curious, so I looked up a bit more information. Obviously, a small picture book like this can’t go into too much detail, but I was glad that the last pages mentioned how popular fossil-collecting had become among the wealthy.

That helps to explain why a rich lady might have taken an interest in Mary and given her such a special book. It also helps to explain how she was able to eke out a living from her sales.

I’m disappointed that the illustrations seem to show Mary digging in the earth, as if she’s still above the cliffs. There are little hummocks and trees around her, rather than the beach and rocky cliffs I expected to see.

These high cliff faces expose layers of earth that have been laid down over eons. They are susceptible to erosion in storms, and after rains or heavy surf, people scrambled along the foot of the cliffs to collect whatever fossils had been loosened and tumbled down.

My Goodreads review includes a photograph captioned:
The rocky foreshore at Lyme Regis, Dorset, is a haven for fossil-hunters searching for specimens from the early Jurassic era. Photo at Picfair: Sandra Morton, UK

All in all, a worthy subject for this lovely series of books, which will send even adults to their bookshelves and Google to look up further information. There are always references to other books at the end of these, too.

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A good introduction for little ones to Mary Anning, one of the first female paleontologists. Despite not being allowed a university education, she studied fossils on her own and made many discoveries, including the first correctly identified ichthyosaur skeleton, the first two nearly complete plesiosaur skeletons, the first pterosaur skeleton outside of Germany, and she figured out that some fossilized orbs that were believed to be bezoar stones by scientists at the time were actually fossilized dinosaur poop! This book, as the others in this series, is a good starting point to get kids interested and want to learn more.

#MaryAnning #NetGalley

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I love all if the little people, big dreams books. This is the first one where I honestly hadn't known who the subject was prior to reading this book. I was fascinated with Mary's discoveries. She definitely is a role model for girls. I'm glad she got recognition for her achievements, especially after men tried to take the credit from her.

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A great teaching tool for the classroom. Students learn not only the history of dinosaur discoveries, but also the life of woman instrumental in discovering them. Perfect for elementary and middle grade Women’s History studies and science classes.

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Another win for Maria Isabel Sanchez Vergara! Mary Anning was an avid fossil hunter who was underappreciated by her male peers at the time. This book is a good introduction to Anning's life.

Every so often I think of book pairings for mother and children: A parent who has read Chevalier's Remarkable Creatures could flesh out this slim tome with more information about Anning.

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I love reading about women I never knew existed. Mary Anning is just such a person. I didn’t know there was a “Mother of Paleontology”. I hope this book gets this wonderful historical fiction more attention from modern kids.

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This is another great addition to the Little People, Big Dreams series. I hadn't heard about Mary Anning, but do recall hearing about a woman whose information and palaeontology finds had be claimed by men. Now I know who that was and more about this remarkable young woman. Mary used to go fossil hunting with her father as a young girl. She didn't always know what she found, but she cleaned them up and sold them to tourists. One day a lady gave her a book that changed her life. She learned how to read and began seriously searching for fossils and dinosaur bones. The first skeleton was found by her brother, but she was the one who excavated it and shared it with the world. She worked hard for years, sharing her finds with male archaeologists, and teaching them, while they took credit for her finds. Eventually she was recognized and offered membership in the Geological Society of London, eventually becoming known as the Mother of Paleontology. I loved the quote in the book about her journey: "Sometimes people won't recognize your achievements, but don't worry! Time will place them where they belong." A great book for young children, especially girls to learn about a smart, female scientist, but also a young girl who persevered and followed her dreams.

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Mary Anning is a children's picture book about the first female paleontologist. Young children will like the story and pictures and will learn about her contribution to science.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review.

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"I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."
I love this series of children's biographies. This story of Mary Anning was so interesting. I had never heard of her before, but I think that is kind of the point. Women have been so undervalued through out history and she achieved something great on her own.

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Very cute story. I have read about Mary Anning but still couldnt help reading the one with illustrations. Well done illustrations. Funny about dog loving bones. She sells sea shells by the seashore. Had to say that.

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Loved this story of Mary Anning's childhood and how she became interested in bones, fossils, dinosaurs and all that is old. To hear a story of a young girl of her time doing what she did is inspiring and reminds women and girls that nothing is too far out of reach. Great illustrations, an easy read for kids and it got their attention to find out more about Mary's life. I received an advanced reader ecopy from Netgalley and these are my thoughts.

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Another great addition to the Little People, Big Dreams series! This edition was based on The Mother of Paleontology, Mary Anning. Her story was an interesting one and this was the first time I had heard of her contributions to the discovery of dinosaur fossils.

This little book raises topics of discussion to have with children about women's contributions to their occupations in history that were often exploited by men who would claim the work as their own to profit from. Mary Anning's discoveries were essential to history and the story ended on a hopeful note as she did finally receive recognition for her contributions to Paleontology. This story is a wonderful for any child with an interest in dinosaur fossils.

Little People, Big Dreams: Mary Anning by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara
Publishing on: March 16, 2021
Rating: 5/5

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This was a cute book that would be interesting to young explorers. I had never heard of this scientist, but I love being able to expose my daughter to inspiring women. The story is a little sad and a little hopeful, and would initiate some interesting conversations with children.

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One of my favs in the Little People, BIG DREAMS series of short bios for kids. Mary Anning became the world’s first fossil scientist. Born 10th to a poor British family, she hunted bones with her father, later finding a rare full skeleton of an extinct mammal reptile. Soon her knowledge led to advising the Geological Society, which stole her ideas, as she was an “uneducated” woman. Not until years later was she lionized and made a Society member. Her message: If your efforts go unrecognized, “Time will place them where they belong.” Highly recommended!

5 of 5 Stars
Pub Date 09 Mar 2021
#MaryAnning #NetGalley

Thanks to the author, Quarto Publishing Group – Frances Lincoln Children's Books,
and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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This is a book in a wonderful series from this author. You find out about Mary Anning, the first person to ever find dinosaur pieces!! Because of her and finding fossils, she became the Mother of Paleontology. I loved that at the end it showed real pictures of what the fossils looked like.

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