Mister Bones: Dinosaur Hunter

Written by Jane Kurtz
Illustrated by Mary Haverfield
Simon Spotlight, 2004
32 pages
Ages 6-8
ISBN: 978-0-689-85960-1

Barnum Brown loves to dig in the dirt. He pokes and he sifts and he picks through the dirt. What is he looking for? Not gold, but something just as valuable: Bones! Dinosaur bones! And what he finds is an amazing thing.

Young readers who are intrigued with dinosaurs not only have a chance to practice reading about mighty T. Rex, they are also introduced to the science of paleontology and the fact that early dinosaur hunters uncovered many interesting bones that went on display in the United States and started a long path of scientific discovery about ancient geology and animal life.

Classroom Resources

Collaborative Books—Reading About Dinosaur Hunting

Alphin, Elaine Marie. Dinosaur Hunter. HarperCollins, 2003. Dinosaur Bone Wars in Wyoming (I Can Read Book)
Brown, Don. Rare Treasure: Mary Anning and Her Remarkable Discoveries. Houghton Mifflin, 1999.
Hartzog, Brooke. The Dinosaur Bone Battle Between O.C. Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope. PowerKids Press, 1999 (Dinosaurs and Their Discoverers)
Hartzog, Brooke. Dinosaur Footprints and Roland T. Bird. PowerKids Press, 1999 (Dinosaurs and Their Discoverers)
Hartzog, Brooke. Ichthyosaurus and Little Mary Anning. PowerKids Press, 1999 (Dinosaurs and Their Discoverers)
Hartzog, Brooke. Iguanodon and Dr. Gideon Mantell. PowerKids Press, 1999 — (Dinosaurs and Their Discoverers)
Hartzog, Brooke. Ichthyosaurus and Little Mary Anning. PowerKids Press, 1999 — (Dinosaurs and Their Discoverers)
Hartzog, Brooke. Tyrannosaurus Rex & Barnum Brown. PowerKids Press, 1999 — (Dinosaurs and Their Discoverers)
Hartzog, Brooke. The First Dinosaur Eggs and Roy Chapman Andrews. PowerKids Press, 1999 — (Dinosaurs and Their Discoverers)

Related Links to Information About Barnum Brown and Other Palentologists

Barnum Brown (1873-1963) was a great US dinosaur hunter and assistant curator of the American Museum of Natural History. Brown discovered many dinosaurs, including the first T. Rex specimens. He named: Anchiceratops (1914), Ankylosaurus (1908), Corythosaurus (1914), Hypacrosaurus (1913), Kritosaurus (1910), Leptoceratops (1914), Prosaurolophus (1916), Saurolophus (1912), and the family Ankylosauridae (1908). He co-named Pachycephalosaurus (1943) and Dromaeosaurus (with E. M. Schlaikjer, 1922). (Links are to pages on the Enchanted Learning site.)

Famous paleontologists to investigate

What contribution to the study of dinosaurs did each of these people make?

Mary Anning
William Buckland
Thomas H. Huxley
Roy C. Andrews
Richard Owen