David Sheldon

This is the biography of Barnum Brown and his life and discovery of dinosaurs. This book highlights Barnum's journey through discovering dinosaurs and all the dinosaurs he found. He became the greatest known dinosaur hunter. The book begins with him as a child always longing to search for dinosaurs. Soon his dream came true when he was hired by the American museum of Natural History to expand their exhibits to include fossils of dinosaurs. Barnum was very successful in his findings and many say he could smell the bones of dinosaurs. This is a very educational book for children to read when learning about fossils and dinosaurs. I found this book very informative because I did not know that Barnum Brown discovered the fossils of many dinosaurs including the T-Rex.… (meer)

A brief summary:
Barnum Brown grew up exploring his family's land and finding fossils of ancient sea creatures. His love for fossils and more specifically dinosaurs continued to grow and he eventually went on to become a paleontologist. Barnum went on to work at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City with the goal of finding a dinosaur fossil to put on display. He went searching in the western U.S. and Canada and soon began sending his amazing fossil finds to the American Museum of Natural History. Meanwhile, other museums in the U.S. were collecting dinosaur fossils, which made Barnum work even more expediently to find a fossil that no one had found before. One day, hot and exhausted from his efforts, Barnum uncovered a new discovery: the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Everyone was amazed by Barnum's discovery and years later he uncovered a second more complete fossil of the T. Rex. About two years later, Barnum found himself in a friendly competition with a team of "dinosaur hunters" hired by the Canadian government to find the next new dinosaur fossil. It was during this "Second Great Dinosaur Rush" that Barnum found the Saurolophus, a dinosaur that lived over seventy-five million years ago. For his amazing work, Barnum was later named the Head Curator of Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History. His name can still be found on display with his amazing fossils that he once affectionately called his "children."

My personal reaction:
I think this book could be very powerful for a young learner to read because it tells the story of a young child whose dreams became a reality through hard work and perseverance. Many young learners take interest in dinosaurs and I think this book does a good job of showing how one "dinosaur hunter" in particular was able to pursue his passion to uncovering the amazing fossils that we still have on display today.

A couple of uses:
- As you read this book aloud with the class, compile a list of the dinosaurs that are mentioned, such as the Apatosaurus, Stegosaurus, and Triceratops. Then have groups of students research more on each and then come together as class to compile and share information.
- After reading Fossil by Claire Ewart, read this book as a class to discover more about one paleontologist who took a major role in uncovering the fossils we still have today. Encourage students to research other paleontologists who have helped to uncover the fossils that have been found all over the world.

Genre:
Informational - biography

Media:
India ink, gouache, and acrylic paint… (meer)

William Beebe seems to have lived the life that I wanted as I was growing. To some degree, he lived the life that I want to live still. This was a great book about an important figure in the history of ecology, and yet he would probably be relagated to obscurity were it not for brilliant work like this. I really think that this is an exceptional children's biography and both the text and illustrations were very well done. I'd love to see some other work from David Sheldon as it seems that he has quite a gift to share with the rest of us.… (meer)