Book Description
for The Dinosaur Expert by Margaret McNamara and G. Brian Karas
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Mr. Tiffin’s class (seen previously in How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin and other stories) is on a field trip to the Natural History Museum and Kimmy is thrilled. She loves fossils, knows tons about dinosaurs, and wants to be a scientist when she grows up. “Girls aren’t scientists,” says classmate Jake when Kimmy shares her plans, along with some information about the first exhibit they see. After this, Kimmy grows quiet, although she knows a lot about the fossils in the other exhibits. It isn’t until they enter a special exhibit with a dinosaur she’s never seen—a Gasparinisaura, named for the scientist who discovered it—that her enthusiasm returns: Dr. Zulma Brandoni de Gasparini is a woman! In fact, Kimmy’s report, “My Favorite Paleontologists” (included as a brief photo-essay at book’s end), is about 7 girls and women, four of them people of color, known for their work in paleontology. (Ages 4–8)
CCBC Choices 2019. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2019. Used with permission.