Marian's Big Dig by Laura Bontje

MARIAN'S BIG DIG

by Laura Bontje

Illustrated by Scot Ritchie

Groundwood Books

Picture Book

32 pages

ages 4 to 8

COMING OCTOBER 6th!!!

When rock-loving Marian stumbles upon a perfect, pointy stone in the park, she just knows it is a dinosaur fossil! But her geologist mom and her fossil-hunting hero remain unconvinced, so there’s only one thing to do — Marian has to find the rest of the dinosaur. One by one, she excavates more fossils in her backyard (though her parents keep mistaking them for gardening tools and household objects). Piecing them together is puzzling, but Marian’s dinosaur is shaping up to be her best discovery yet.

This playful story told through the eyes of imaginative Marian is accompanied by real facts about fossils, further reading and details about real life fossil discoveries made by kids.

GOODREADS    /    PUBLISHER

MY TIDBITS

Huge discoveries are sometimes only a glance at the ground away, and these pages show how.

Marian loves discovering rocks just like her mother. She even has her own little collection, and there's a  space left for a very special stone. While at the playground, she notices a small fossil on a larger rock buried in the ground, but it's too big for her to move. Then, she discovers a very interesting, smaller rock poking out of the grass next to it. That one looks quite a bit like a dinosaur tooth. Her mom doubts it's a fossil, but Marian is determined and writes a letter to a fossil expert, who even had a dinosaur named after her. The expert admits that she can't identify Marian's tooth without seeing it personally, but Marian isn't about to send her tooth away. Soon, she starts finding all sorts of possible fossils in the ground and even begins her own excavation. What she discovers is something no one expected.

My own daughter is an avid rock hound, so this book already had me smiling. But then, Marian's enthusiasm brightens every page enough to give a very positive atmosphere. Her determination is inspiring as she doesn't let anything distract her from her mission of finding more fossils, and her parents take it with wonderful stride. The result of Marian's efforts isn't anything like a reader might expect, either. Instead, the book lets Marian's imagination flow right in and everything wraps up with a huge amount of creativity...which inspires, too. It's definitely not a dry rock hound or fossil finding book, although these aspects do come through, too, and will have readers looking at what's on the ground around them more often.

The illustrations bring across Marian's lively personality, and the bright colors are as sunny as the atmosphere. They bring each scene to life in a way that can also let younger listeners flip through the story on their own. The text fits the intended age group well and flows nicely to create a lovely read aloud. While it first appears that this might settle into a more informative read, reluctant listeners will be pleasantly surprised at the direction the plot takes. 

At the end of the book, there are several facts about fossils and such as well as a list of children, who made fossil discoveries. This is a nice touch and shows that even four-year-olds have run across big discoveries. So, be careful because this read might also inspires some listeners/ readers to start finding fossils of their own. But that also means that this read works well in connection with a theme surrounding rocks and fossils, too.

And here they are...

LAURA BONTJE is a children’s book author and freelance fiction editor. Raised in Calgary, Alberta, she now lives with her husband, kids and fluffy gray cat in London, Ontario. Her picture books include Marian’s Big Dig (illustrated by Scot Ritchie), When the Air Sang (illustrated by Sarah Whang), Was It a Cat I Saw? (illustrated by Emma Lidia Squillari) and more to come.

SCOT RITCHIE is an award-winning illustrator and author with more than eighty books to his credit, including Tug, P'ésk'a and the First Salmon Ceremony, Federica and Owen at the Park. His books have been translated into many languages including French, Korean, Indonesian, Polish, Finnish, Arabic and Dutch. Scot has worked with the National Film Board of Canada and has exhibited his illustrations at the National Gallery of Canada. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.