Description: Mary Anning (1799-1847) loves to scour the shores of Lyme Regis, England, for what her deceased father called "curiosities." One day young Mary Anning spots some markings on a wide, flat stone. She chips at it until the lines of a tooth emerge -- and then those of another tooth. Weeks of persistent effort yield a face about four feet long. But what creature is this? Her brother calls it a sea dragon. Later, Mary Anning learns that her "curiosity" is a fossil, perhaps millions of years old. Inspired by her discovery of the first entire skeleton of an ichthyosaur and by the memory of her father, Mary Arming devotes her life to excavating and studying fossils. Jeannine Atkins's moving text and Michael Dooling's exquisite paintings capture their subject's passion for her work, and all the joy she found in it.

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