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Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Barnum in School Library Journal and Booklist

I'm thrilled to announce that Barnum's Bones was recently selected as a School Library Journal Best Book of 2012 in the nonfiction category.   You can view the entire list here.   Barnum was also named a Booklist Top 10 Science and Health Book for Youth 2012.  Other great books on that list are noted here

Monday, November 19, 2012

Barnum in Columbus

I'm very pleased to learn that Barnum's Bones was selected as a Top 20 Children's Book of 2012 by the Columbus Dispatch.  You can view the entire list here.  It's wonderful to see Barnum in the company of so many other books that I enjoyed this year, including Wonder by R.J. Palacio, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, and the delightful Z is for Moose by Kelly Bingham and Paul O. Zelinski.


Friday, November 16, 2012

Washington Post Best Book

I'm so pleased that Barnum's Bones has been selected as a Best Kids Book of 2012 by the Washington Post.  You can check out the whole list here

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Go Texas!

Great news!  I recently learned that Barnum Brown has been included on the awesome 2013-2014 Texas Bluebonnet Award master list.  Eligible young readers in grades 3-6 who have read at least 5 books on the list can vote for their favorite.  I'm absolutely thrilled to be included in this list of 20 fiction and nonfiction books.  You can check out the list here and vote for Barnum!

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Barnum in the Washington Post

Barnum received a wonderful review online yesterday from the Washington Post!  Here's the review:

Like the circus showman he was named for, Barnum Brown (1873-1963) was raised to think big — in his case, dinosaur big. He dug far and wide and deep, discovering more dinosaur bones than anyone else ever has. And in the badlands near Hell Creek, Mont., he was the first to find the king of them all, Tyrannosaurus rex. In this engaging picture-book biography, Tracey Fern and illustrator Boris Kulikov supply many distinctive details about Brown, including the spiffy wardrobe he favored and the dancing talents he would occasionally unleash. But they focus on the excitement of fossil hunting. Barnum evidently felt this enthusiasm early on, following his father’s plow to collect the small, ancient treasures it unearthed. His mentor at New York City’s Museum of Natural History thought Barnum “must be able to smell fossils,” but he apparently relished the work involved on and off the digging site. Kulikov’s inventive, playfully skewed illustrations capture Barnum’s ardent curiosity and forceful presence — he often appears larger than life, as when he’s diving off of “Cuba” (seemingly just a few yards wide) to retrieve a fossil. On the last spread, the scale seems about right, but the concept is truly wild: Barnum Brown riding a very-much-alive T. rex through Central Park. He’s so cool he doesn’t need a saddle.
— Abby McGanney Nolan

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Tyrannosaurus Goes to Court

A cousin of Barnum's T. rex recently made the news.  A nearly complete skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus bataar was up for auction in New York City.  Marc Norell, a paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History, spotted the fully assembled, 24-foot-long skeleton in an auction catalog.  The dinosaur has only been found in Mongolia, and Mr. Norell was concerned that the skeleton had been illegally removed from that country by poachers.  The fossil was purchased at the auction by an anonymous buyer for more than $1,000,000.  However, thanks to a federal civil complaint, the sale was halted and the skeleton is now in federal custody, awaiting resolution of the legal dispute over its ownership.  You can read the full article from The New York Times here.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Barnum in The New York Times

Barnum got a wonderful review in The New York Times.  Here's the review, written by Pamela Paul and published May 23, 2012:

I Found a T. Rex!

‘Barnum’s Bones,’ by Tracey Fern

As a child, Barnum Brown collected fossils — so many that when he filled the front parlor with boxes of them, his mother moved them out to the laundry house. Like so many young boys, Brown became obsessed with dinosaurs. But unlike other boys, he grew up to become one of the nation’s foremost paleontologists and, among other things, discovered the first fossil of Tyrannosaurus rex. 

Tracey Fern (“Buffalo Music,” “Pippo the Fool”) turns a slice of a scientist’s biography into an American adventure tale, describing how Brown and his rivals at other museums raced to find the best fossils and to discover new species. The moment when Brown unearths the first bones belonging to a T. rex is genuinely exciting, though on the next page we learn he couldn’t make it back to the digging site in the badlands of Montana until a few seasons later. How could he be “too busy”?! Fern doesn’t explain. But when he returns, we eagerly take up the story again. 

The illustrations, by Boris Kulikov — who illustrated the wonderful “Max’s Words” and “Max’s Castle,” both by Kate Banks — lends a delightfully comic, almost cartoonish, touch to material that might have been stimulating even as literal illustration-as-exposition. Instead, as in the Max books, Kulikov amplifies the text with glorious depictions of a human being’s wildest imaginings.  

For example, describing Barnum’s realization that a rock brought to him by a friend is actually the horn of a Triceratops, he paints Brown perching the fossilized horn on the snout of a Triceratops outline, drawn like a map in his office, its shape extending beyond the room’s walls into a wild, outdoor landscape. A memorable image shows the dapper Brown (he often prospected in fur coat and bowler hat) dancing with an imaginary dinosaur, his newly discovered T. rex skull aglow in the moonlight behind him.
And of course, there’s the true-fairy-tale ending, with Brown astride a T. rex, lumbering across Central Park, the American Museum of Natural History alight in the distance. As an author’s note explains, when Brown first arrived at the museum, in 1897, the institution didn’t have a single dinosaur specimen in its collection. By the time he died, in 1963, it had the largest collection in the world, most of it assembled by Brown. He has probably made as many children happy as did old P.T. himself.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Starred Review - School Library Journal!

Bravo for Barnum!  I'm so excited to announce that School Library Journal has given Barnum a starred review in its June issue!  Here's the review:

FERN,Tracey.Barnum’s Bones: How Barnum Brown Discovered the Most Famous Dinosaur in the World. illus. by Boris Kulikov. 40p. bibliog. photos. CIP. Farrar/Margaret Ferguson. 2012. Tr $17.99. ISBN 978-0-374-30516-1.LC 2010048846.

K-Gr 4–Barnum Brown had a nose for fossils, trudging along behind his father as he plowed his Kansas fields, picking up ancient clams and corals. And that nose, according to Fern’s chatty, readable text, led to a lifetime of work for the American Museum of Natural History in New York (originally under the guidance of Henry Fairfield Osborn). A brief glimpse at Brown’s early years leads to his expeditions to Patagonia and the American West, and the discovery of his most exciting find–Tyrannosaurus rex. Kulikov’s cartoon illustrations splash across the spreads, their golds, browns, oranges (and an occasional bright blue) forming a perfect backdrop for the text, and for a scattering of correspondence between Brown and Osborn tucked into the endpapers (“Please...send me 1/2 doz. short, heavy chisels….”). An extensive author’s note provides further biographical detail about this productive paleontologist. This book is simpler than Deborah Kogan Ray’s stellar Dinosaur Mountain: Digging into the Jurassic Age (Farrar, 2010), which has a similar format, and is on a par with David Sheldon’s handsome Barnum Brown: Dinosaur Hunter (Walker, 2006). T. rex lovers will gobble it up, and seekers of easy biographies will be hot on their heels.–Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Starred Review - Booklist!

I'm honored that Barnum's Bones has received a lovely starred review from Booklist.  Here's the review, which will be published in the June issue.  Go Barnum! 


      Barnum's Bones: How Barnum Brown Discovered the Most Famous Dinosaur in the World.
Fern, Tracey (Author) , Kulikov, Boris (Illustrator)
May 2012. 40 p. Farrar, hardcover, $17.99. (9780374305161). 560.92.

On February 12, 1873, Barnum was born. No, not that Barnum—Barnum Brown. His parents hoped his “important-sounding” name would lead him to do important things, and it didn’t take long for their wish to come true. As soon as Barnum could toddle, he collected fossils—so many that they overflowed the house. Years later, when he heard about dinosaur fossils unearthed out West, he wanted in on the action. Barnum often went prospecting in “a fur coat, suit and tie, buffed black boots, and a bowler hat,” and he found bones—lots of them—but wasn’t satisfied. A professor at the New York’s Museum of Natural History hired Barnum, believing “he must be able to smell fossils,” and sent him on collection trips. But Barnum’s big find would come in the early 1900s with the discovery of bone fragments from a new species, which Barnum named Tyrannosaurus rex, or his “favorite child.” After Barnum later unearthed a perfect T.rex skull, an entire skeleton was pieced together by 1915, drawing millions of visitors. Fern (Buffalo Music, 2008) writes in language brimming with personality and vividly captures the scientist’s over-the-top personality, while Kulikov’s intricate renderings of dinosaur bones are truly breathtaking. This will captivate the masses of kids whose jaws drop in the presence of hulking fossils. An author’s note concludes. — Ann Kelley

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Dinos in the Backyard

In the spirit of Barnum Brown, I recently went on a dinosaur hunt.  On a visit to the Harvard Museum of Natural History, I checked out the Museum's Triceratops, which is the 'type specimen' or the first one ever described.   While Barnum Brown was a student at the University of Kansas in 1895, his expedition discovered a nearly perfect Triceratops skull in eastern Wyoming.  In addition, it was Barnum's chance encounter with a Triceratops' horn that he received from his friend William Hornaday that led Barnum to Hell Creek, Montana, where he eventually discovered T. rex.


 






I also saw the world's only mounted Kronosaurus, a 42-foot-long prehistoric marine reptile (not technically a dino).  This interesting article details some of the history of this specimen.






This specimen was also on display: 


Can you identify it?

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

MORE REVIEWS!

I'm very pleased that BARNUM'S BONES received a lovely review from The Horn Book.  Here's the full review:


At and around the turn of the last century, an eccentric dinosaur hunter dedicated himself to the discovery of a new species, and amassed along the way a peerless collection of fossilized skeletons for the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Barnum Brown develops his zeal for bone hunting early, following behind his father’s plow to gather unearthed fossils. He trains as a paleontologist and travels the American West, digging for a new discovery, often dressed to the nines in fur coat and bowler hat. Years of hunting produce a partial skeleton of an unknown carnivorous giant, and years more completed it: at last Tyrannosaurus rex is discovered. Fern’s colorful narrative fairly bubbles with Barnum’s irrepressible fervor as he battles everything from mosquitoes to Andrew Carnegie to establish his legacy. Kulikov’s bright, saturated paintings with unusual perspectives and evocative use of light and shadow bring the landscapes of the cultured city and Wild West to vivid life. Clever illustrative details—imagined dinosaur silhouettes, capricious dinosaur expressions, abundant bits of torn maps—add a level of fun all their own, reflecting Barnum’s indefatigable enthusiasm. An author’s note and selected bibliography round out this informative, inspirational story of one man’s curious, undeniable passion. thom barthelmess

Monday, April 2, 2012

First Review - A Star From Kirkus!

 

Barnum's Coming!

I'm very excited that my newest picture book, Barnum's Bones, illustrated by the fabulous Boris Kulikov, will be published next month.  I'm thrilled and honored that Kirkus Reviews gave Barnum a starred review in their April edition!!  Here's what Kirkus had to say:

 
Presenting Barnum Brown, who, from the time he was named for circus impresario P.T., was destined to do unusual, important things.

Obsessed from childhood with fossils—and blessed with an uncanny knack for finding them—Brown began hunting dinosaurs in the American West in the late 19th century. He was hired by New York’s Museum of Natural History to find specimens, since that institution had no dinosaur collection at the time. Discover them Brown did, though he didn’t unearth any new species—until, after several years of painstaking labor, he discovered the bones, including an intact skull, of the new creature he’d longed to find, later dubbed Tyrannosaurus rex. His “favorite child” took the world by storm, and the dapper Brown, in a career spanning more than six decades, went on to discover more dinosaur fossils than anyone. Fern fills her text with all the salient facts but uses a breezy, humorous, awestruck voice that strikes just the right tone in telling the story of this fascinating, quirky scientist. Kulikov’s wittily energetic, earth-toned watercolors enliven the text and add to the fun and interest.

Children who gawp at dinosaur exhibits will realize a new appreciation for those who devote their lives to finding and resurrecting extraordinary animals from eons past. And who doesn’t love T. rex? (author’s note, bibliography) (Informational picture book. 7-11)

Stay tuned for more Barnum news and reviews, coming soon!