Mary Anning's Curiosity

nThe amazing story of how the world's greatest fossilist found her first huge find at the age of twelve.n nMary was born in 1799 in Lyme Regis, England. Her father, a carpenter and part-time fossil hunter, taught his children to look for fossils.n nWhen her father injured himself and was unable to work, Mary quit school and took up fossil hunting full-time to help support her family, a task that became even more important when her father died, leaving the Annings in debt.n nAt the age of twelve, Mary, with her older brother Joe, found what they believed to be the skeleton of a gigantic crocodile, the Great Croc of the legends. Between dodging her rival fossil hunter the Curiman, and the sheer work of carefully digging out the fossil, Mary took almost a year to excavate what would later be termed the Ichthyosaurus. n nMary Anning was uneducated, poor and a woman, but her life's work of fossil hunting led her to make many discoveries that influenced our understanding of prehistoric creatures and the age of the Earth.n nIn this triumphant novel about scientific discovery, Monica Kulling brings Mary Anning and her world to life for young readers. n n n nKey Text Features n author's note n historical context n resources n facts n further readingn