Dragon in the Rocks: A Story Based on the Childhood of the Early Paleontologist, Mary Anning

Like many children, my daughter went through an intense dinosaur phase. At age 3 she told people she was going to be a paleontologist and wash ducks (a nod to an environmental program she watched on TV). Therefore, I was happy to find a story about Mary Anning of Lyme, England, one of the world's earliest fossil hunters. Remarkably, she excavated an entire skeleton on her own -- later sold to a museum -- when still a child. Since so many books about professions are concerned with what kids can do "when they grow up," my daughter enjoyed hearing about a dinosaur hunter who was not much older than she was herself.