Barnum Named an Outstanding Science Trade Book

The National Science Teachers Association recently named Barnum's Bones an Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students.  Needless to say, I'm very honored, especially because science teachers played such an important role in my own educational experience.   My high school chemistry and biology teachers sparked an interested that still shapes what I do today.  Mr. Sprague's chemistry II class was the most challenging class I took in high school, and I loved it. Thank you to Mr. Sprague and to all the other science teachers who inspire kids to explore, investigate, and understand our world!  The entire list of Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students, 2013 can be seen here.

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. 

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.

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. 

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!

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

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.