WILD & WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY : Brontosaurus is Back! by Sarah Albee & Chris Hsu
ABOUT THE BOOK
This is fun, lively, kid-appeal-filled nonfiction and tells the story of brontosaurus—discovered, discontinued, and then reinstated again.
Dino fans, come and get it! There's so much to learn in this interesting book about naming, sloppy science, dueling paleontologists, and more! Sarah Albee's signature humor and strong writing, coupled with Chris Hsu's kid-friendly and accurate art, bring history to life on the page.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR
Sarah Albee is the New York Times bestselling author of nonfiction books for kids. Her most recent titles are both nonfiction picture books: The Painter and the President: Gilbert Stuart’s Brush with George Washington, and Zero! The Number that Almost Wasn't. Other popular titles include Troublemakers in Trousers: Women and What They Wore to Get Things Done; Fairy Tale Science; Accidental Archaeologists: True Stories of Unexpected Discoveries; and Poop Happened: A History of the World from the Bottom Up; and Alexander Hamilton: A Plan for America. She and her husband live in New York City and have three grown children. Visit her at www.sarahalbeebooks.com
Chris Hsu is a picture book illustrator and animation background artist whose credits include FX’s Archer and Marvel’s Hit-Monkey. His illustration work is influenced by world history, art history and music, and current favorite non-art activity is watching his daughters and nieces play soccer on Saturdays.
REVIEW
This unusual dinosaur book tells an interesting story about science and human disagreement. Albee presents young readers with a conundrum. When sauropods are discovered as fossils, they rarely appear intact, usually only parts of the animal are found. This led to problems with Brontosaurus and Apatosaurus. Othniel C. Marsh found out about these fossils from a Sioux chief named Red Cloud. In his eagerness to upstage his rival, Edward D. Cope, he shared his findings and the accompanying assumptions with the public too quickly. He decided that he had found a new genus despite only have a few parts of the animal; he named it Apatosaurus. After his workers found more fossils he declared he'd found another genus which he named Brontosaurus. The book further describes the growing pile of evidence that led to Apatosaurus and Brontosaurus being declared the same species before further decades of fossil hunting and study lead in 2015 to the two being declared, once again, different species. This is an eye-opening look at the risks of rushing to judgment leading to incorrect assumptions but even carefully laid out evidence can be proven wrong when more evidence comes to light. The text gives an age-appropriate look at the messiness of real-life scientific study. A great book for use in the classroom to teach about the importance of continuing to ask questions combined with fascinating information for dinosaur-loving young readers. The author and illustrator both carefully explain to readers that even now there is much that is not known about these animals such as their skin color and texture since fossils don't usually indicate such things. Small sidebars provide extra information about the two species while a cartoon bird provides commentary that adds a humorous touch to the book. A great book for young readers interested in dinosaurs with a fabulous design and a thorough timeline provided in the backmatter along with additional information about scientific study, what kinds of things fossils can tell us and a select bibliography. What a great nonfiction book for kids!
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