Mary Anning's Curiosity by Monica Kulling

Kulling begins her book with the story of Mary Anning surviving a lightning strike when she was a baby. The book focuses on Mary's hunt for fossils in the large cliffs by the sea near Lyme Regis, where she and her family lived.

The ammonites and other curiosities that she, her brother Joe and their father found were sold to tourists to supplement their income.  Mary's father worked as a carpenter but his true love was hunting for fossils. He believed that the Black Ven cliffs held the remains of a giant creature, which the townsfolk called a crocodile.

Mary Anning's father suffered a terrible fall that resulted in a serious back injury and eventually led to his death from tuberculosis. Mary decided to give up school and search for fossils full time, believing that this was the only way she could save her family from the poorhouse.

Their major competition came from Captain Cury whose real name was William Lock. When Joe spotted the eye socket of an enormous creature in the shales of the Black Ven, Mary and Joe become determined that Captain Cury will not steal their find from them.

Discussion

This delightful little storybook, (it's only 115 pages) for younger readers, tells the story of 19th century British fossilist, Mary Anning. The richly detailed cover, portraying the fossils in the ground and Mary Anning with her hammer, invites younger readers in to discover the remarkable story of a young girl whose discoveries helped shaped the budding discipline of paleontology. Melissa Castrillon's fine pencil drawings accentuate the smaller details of the story.

Canadian author, Monica Kulling was inspired to write about Mary Anning after reading Tracy Chevalier's novel,  Remarkable Creatures, a fictional account of Mary Anning written for teens and adults. After reading and researching more about Anning, Kulling decided she was an inspiration for children because she persevered through very difficult circumstances and because she discovered some of the first dinosaur fossils. And of course, the fact that children are naturally curious about dinosaurs, makes this an obvious choice for a childrens book!

Kulling fills her account with fascinating details. For example, the fossils of ammonites, which are extinct but resemble modern day Nautilus molluscs were often found and sold by Mary Anning and other fossil hunters. Kulling relates that many people thought these ammonite fossils were the remains of the snakes that St. Hilda turned to stone in England.

The title, Mary Anning's Curiosity is a double entendre, the word curiosity being a common word used by the English for fossils, and of course also referring to Mary Anning's curosity in the cliffs that contained the usual finds she and her family dug up.

The book contains an extensive Author's Note that supplies extra details for adults and teachers, and there are booklists for both teachers and younger readers as well. A great short read for interested younger readers or teachers in the classroom!

Book Details:

Mary Anning's Curiosity by Monica Kulling
Toronto: Groundwood Books, House of Anansi Press 2017
115 pp.