What makes this book special?



1) HARD SCI-FI MEETS YOUNG ADULT. The Bone Wars blends the young-adult genre with hard science-fiction. The novel is chock full of both globe-trotting adventure and science, in this case paleontology. Young readers will feel like they too are paleontologists.


2) A BOOK WITHIN A BOOK. The novel is quasi-epistolary, with a series of fictional letters between Mary Anning, Sir Richard Owen, and the other major 19th-century paleontologists. The letters provide an alternate history in which these paleontologists sought to prove not just the existence of dinosaurs but actual mythical creatures.


3) WRITTEN BY AN EXPERIENCED PALEONTOLOGIST. The Bone Wars evolved from a story Erin made up for her own children, telling it to them at bedtime each night. The novel brings that experience home for everyone else’s children.


4) FIRST IN A SERIES. While the novel can stand on its own, it is intended as the first novel in a series. The second novel (already outlined) follows Molly and the other main characters as they travel across Mongolia in search of more rare fossils.