"PURE GENIUS."
--Kirkus Reviews, *STARRED REVIEW
"A GEM."
--School Library Journal, *STARRED REVIEW
"..a story that's both cuddly and smartly paced."
--Publishers Weekly, *STARRED REVIEW
--a Kirkus Best Children’s Book of 2011
The Center for the Book at the New Hampshire State Library featured Born to be Giants at the National Book Festival in the festival's Pavilion of the States. The festival took place in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, Sept. 25, 2010.
This book fills a lifelong dream to investigate paleontologists’ understanding of baby dinosaurs and their parents. It was an exciting book because scientists have made many great new discoveries of fossilized baby dinosaurs, nests, and eggs in recent years. I wrote and illustrated the book in a format with hypotheses about dinosaur behavior following clues to engage young readers in the scientific method.
Born to be Giants is a Junior Library Guild Selection and will also be available at Scholastic Book Fairs!
The Story of Walter Rothschild and his Museum
Walter was born in 1868 and was the son of Lady Emma and Lord Nathan Rothschild. The Rothschilds were a family of bankers and Walter was expected to someday take over the bank. But Walter wasn't interested in the bank. Instead, he loved every creature that crawled, slithered or flew. He began collecting bugs and butterflies at the age of seven. The family also knew explorers who traveled the world to bring back animals for the London Zoo, and soon Walter started collecting more exotic creatures like kangaroos and kiwis. From there his collection grew and grew, until it threatened to take over the Rothschild estate. Lord Rothschild eventually lost patience with Walter's hobby and insisted that Walter become a banker, like everyone else in the family. Reluctantly, Walter obeyed, but his dream couldn't be dimmed.
Eventually Walter created the largest zoological collection gathered by one man and was respected throughout the world for his contribution to science. He wrote 1200 books and scientific papers and named 5000 new species. Animals that now bear the name Rothschild include butterflies, fish, a millipede, a fly, a lizard, a porcupine, a wallaby, a bird of paradise, and even a giraffe. The painfully shy boy who never made a good banker forever changed our understanding of the world's diversity of creatures.
