Dragon Bones and Dinosaur Eggs: A Photobiography of Explorer Roy Chapman Andrews

Real-life is usually so much more interesting than the movies, and Ann Bausum's wonderful photobiography of Roy Chapman Andrews - Dragon Bones and Dinosaur Eggs - will be ample evidence of this to any young Indiana Jones fan. Roy Chapman Andrews [1884-1960] was an explorer and is best known for the Central Asiatic Expeditions, which he led on behalf of the American Museum of Natural History and during which the first dinosaur eggs and nests were found. He is also a probable model for the character of Indiana Jones. Dragon Bones and Dinosaur Eggs puts its main focus on Andrew's life from his employment with the AMNH through to the expeditions to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. The book is a well-done combination of photographs, text, and block quotes. The text is well-written and exciting [even for an older person like me], and the pictures help the reader to put themselves into the story. Did Roy Chapman Andrews wear a cool looking hat? [YES!] Did Roy Chapman Andrews dislike snakes and did he have a run-in with them on one of the expeditions? [YES!] I recommend this book to any young person of late elementary age who is interested in exploration and paleontology.