The Deepest Dig

 

Written by Mark David Smith

Illustrated by Lily Snowden-Fine

Owlkids Books

978-1-77147-419-1

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

August 2021

What can come from a little curiosity and some brain power and brawn? A whole lot of treasure. Even if no one believes, at first.

From The Deepest Dig by Mark David Smith, illus. by Lily Snowden-Fine

Caden is a child with a curious mind. When he and his dog find something poking out of the backyard, he eliminates all the things it is not: not a root, not a post, not a stone. His neighbour Martha encourages him to dig deeper. His scientific brain asks questions and considers his options. While he does ask his parents as he proceeds to dig, they both dismiss his inquiries.

From The Deepest Dig by Mark David Smith, illus. by Lily Snowden-Fine

First shovelling and then with the use of Martha's truck winch, bits and pieces are excavated. Even when he tells his teacher what he'd found, Caden is dismissed (later compelling Mr. Clerkson to eat his words, or rather his hat). Because Martha recognizes that, "It's only a treasure if it's put together," Caden gets to work. 

 

From The Deepest Dig by Mark David Smith, illus. by Lily Snowden-Fine

This time when his parents see his efforts, they have a lot less to say–they are speechless–and it's Caden who puts together what the next steps should be to get the woolly mammoth skeleton witnessed by all.

It's been awhile since I've reviewed a story by Mark David Smith. I'd been quite impressed by his middle-grade novel Caravaggio: Signed in Blood (Tradewind, 2013) and still am but now also with a picture book that promotes curiosity and endeavour. Of course it's a child who discovered a skeleton. They're the ones who aren't focusing on their bills and their work and household chores. Mom or Dad probably had already rolled over it or around it with their lawn mower, oblivious to its importance. Caden, on the other, got down and looked at it. Really looked at it. This is scientific inquiry at its best. In order to see more, he makes a plan and digs it out. Then putting together what he learns in class and through his own efforts, he assembles a find worthy of a museum. (That's where it ends up according to the newspaper article that concludes the story.) Martha and his parents may have had to be there to get him further along in his inquiry but it was all driven by Caden, and his efforts should be applauded.

From The Deepest Dig by Mark David Smith, illus. by Lily Snowden-Fine

Lily Snowden-Fine, whose artwork I only recently reviewed for the first time (Kimmy & Mike, 2021), uses vibrant colours and scale to emphasize the daring and magnitude of Caden's endeavour. Readers are taken from the outdoors where the tree, red truck and bushes are large to when they are overshadowed by the skeleton Caden puts together. It's quite incredible but Lily Snowden-Fine makes us feel the enormity of what he has accomplished. Moreover, her diversity of characters will let all children imagine that they too could dig up a dinosaur.

The Deepest Dig encourages children to dig deep, whether it's into their curiosity, science, research or any passion. They may not always get the support they deserve at first but perseverance and determination can go a long way to unmasking a hidden treasure. Ask Caden. He did.

Mary Anning's Curiosity

Written by Monica Kulling

Illustrated by Melissa Castrillón

Groundwood Books

978-1-55498-898-3

116 pp.

Ages 7-12

May 2017

I could wait until May 21st, the 218th anniversary of Mary Anning’s birth, but that’s on the weekend and I don’t want to wait.  This extraordinary woman who began life as a miracle girl, surviving a bolt of lightning that killed three women including the woman who held her, has waited long enough, being the woman whom American scientist and writer Stephen Jay Gould declared to be “probably the most important unsung (or inadequately sung) collecting force in the history of paleontology.” (1)

From a very young age, Mary Anning had traipsed the beaches and cliffs of her home in Lyme Regis with her father Richard and older brother Joe.  They would scour the Black Ven cliffs of limestone, shale and clay for treasures called curiosities that they could clean and sell, supplementing her father’s carpentry income. Mary loved going hunting for ammos (ammonites), thunderbolts (belemnites), “devil’s toenails” (Gryphaea) and all shells but she always hoped to find the giant crocodile (a misnomer) of local lore.  After a cliff fall in 1807 prevents her father from ever fossil hunting again, the family’s debts begin to accumulate. Mary who’d always been sneaking out to go hunting decides to leave school in 1810, at age twelve, and continue excavating and selling curiosities, as well as doing odd jobs whenever possible.

And then Joseph, after his work as an upholsterer’s apprentice, discovers the massive eye socket fossil of the giant croc.  But it’s Mary who must excavate it and the rest of the skull while keeping their fossil-seller competitor Captain Cury at bay.  With tireless devotion to her task, and the support of the wealthy and educated fossil collector Miss Elizabeth Philpot, Mary locates the long snout with jagged teeth and rest of the skull which are removed with the stone to the privacy and indoor warmth of her house for cleaning and preparation.  By putting the skull on display, Mary is able to help earn additional funds for the family while pursuing the remainder of the great animal’s fossilized body.

Though Mary Anning (1799-1847) is a part of history, the story that Monica Kulling tells is a creative retelling of her early life and first major discovery, one which helped define her as one the world’s greatest fossilists.   As was the case for those living to pay rent and food and the uncertainty of health (her mother loses many of her babies), Mary Anning’s beginnings were shaky.  But the lightning strike that she survived miraculously heralded a new beginning, apparently taking her from dull child to one with brilliant curiosity and fever for learning.  Like the curiosities she hunted on the beaches and cliffs of Dorset, Mary Anning was a marvel, she of determination and  inquisitiveness, both which served her and her family well.

As with her earlier picture book biographies, Monica Kulling has highlighted a significant figure of original thought and action whom we should know but probably don’t.  With Mary Anning’s Curiosity, Monica Kulling has demonstrated that she too can be innovative, now extending her biographic storytelling into chapter books, helping young readers delve deeper into lives of significant individuals whose stories need to be told to understand our worlds today.  And Monica Kulling is the storyteller to do so, giving life to lives lived in different times and places so that they might be truly appreciated.


(1) From  Purcell, Rosamond Wolff and Gould, Stephen Jay. Finders, Keepers: Eight Collectors (1992). W. W. Norton & Company. 155 pp.