When Sue Found Sue

Sue Henrickson Discovers
Her T. Rex

Abrams Books for Young Readers
(pub. 5.14.2019) 
32  pages

A True Tale with

A Cherry On Top   

A uthor: Toni Buzzeo
     and illustrator: Diana Sudyka

 
C haracter: Sue Henrickson

O verview: 
     "Sue Hendrickson was born to find things, large or small. As a child, her curiosity led her to find many treasures, from lost coins to a tiny brass perfume bottle. And as she grew, her curiosity grew, too. She became a diver who searched for lost boats and buried treasure and a paleontologist who searched for prehistoric-whale fossils.
     On a dig in South Dakota, Sue discovered something bigger than she had ever imagined: the largest, most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever unearthed, a skeleton named Sue in her honor. Full of scientific intuition and true adventure, When Sue Found Sue will inspire young readers to look closely at the world around them and to nurture their curious spirits."

T antalizing taste: 
"During the last weeks
of her fourth summer of digging for duckbills
in the blistering heat,
Sue Hendrickson felt pulled
to a sandstone cliff
far off in the distance.
She couldn't say why then -
and she couldn't say why even now -
but she was called to that cliff.
And on August 12, 1990,
when her team headed into town
to fix a flat tire,
Sue finally followed her curiosity."

And something more: Toni Buzzeo's Author's Note explains that while "many other T. rexes are represented by a few important bones, Sue the T. rex is more than 90 percent complete. She's the largest (thirteen feet tall at the hip and forty-two feet long), most complete, and best-preserved T. rex ever found. What's more, when she was found, her bones were in excellent condition, rather than the fragile state in which many fossilized bones are recovered."

What Miss Mitchell Saw

Beach Lane Books
(Simon & Schuster)

(pub. 9.3.2019) 
40 pages

A True Tale with

A Cherry On Top   

A uthor: Hayley Barrett
     and illustrator: 
             Diana Sudyka

 
C haracter: Maria Mitchell

O verview: 
     "Every evening, year by year, Miss Mitchell stood on her rooftop with her telescope and swept the sky.
       And then one night she saw something no one had ever seen before..."

T antalizing taste: 
     "She made fast friends with stars that shone as if punched into the black with a whalebone needle.
      She knew the stars by name. POLARIS    RIGEL    SPICA
      She observed planets that glowed as steadily as whale oil lamps.
      She knew the plants by name.  MERCURY    VENUS    SATURN
      She marveled at the celestial phenomena that arched overhead like a whale's sparkling splash. 
      She knew the phenomena by name too. ECLIPSE    AURORA BOREALIS      METEOR "
     
And something more: In A Note from the Author, Hayley Barrett says "I live in Massachusetts, so I've been able to visit Nantucket, Maria Mitchell's island birthplace. Wild roses still scent the breeze, the dunes are still dappled with gulls, and ... the Mitchell House ... still feels like a  happy home. The house is a museum now... Every August 1, in celebration of Maria Mitchell's birthday, her royal medal [from the king of Denmark for the discovery of a new comet with a telescope] is put on display there for all to admire."
    And a good activity for these nights -- stargazing!