PALEONTOLOGISTS

As one of a new series that offers information on science careers for girls who aspire to one, this effort explores the field of paleontology, focusing on women who worked or are working in that discipline.

Via brief biographies of five groundbreaking, white, female paleontologists—Mary Anning, Mignon Talbot, Tilly Edinger, Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska, and Mary Leakey—Gibson also delivers both a short history of the study of fossils and a smattering of information on the related science. There’s a feel of overcompensation to the busily designed pages, which feature an overabundance of exclamation points. Even though all of these women made enormous (often unrecognized) contributions to paleontology, the sweeping claim that early paleontologists William Smith and Georges Cuvier “owed much of their success to the great fossil finder Mary Anning” goes largely unsubstantiated. Most sections include a timeline of the biographee’s life, a “Wonder Why?” section—questions for readers to reflect upon—and a quiz or science experiment, some better than others. Scattered throughout are numerous QR codes linking to websites; for those young readers without smartphones, a “QR code glossary” in the backmatter provides URLs. [Editor's note: The original review, published in our July 15, 2019, issue and based on preliminary materials, inaccurately stated that URLs were not provided.] Numerous photographs and Shululu’s stylized illustrations round out the presentation. Readers will note that though Leakey and Kielan-Jaworowska are shown in photos to be dark-haired, Shululu depicts them in adulthood as blondes. Publishing simultaneously are Astronauts, Engineers, and Programmers.

The subjects may have been gutsy, but the book is only average.