Celebrate National Dinosaur Day with Jane Kurtz! PLUS Book Giveaway!

Heather Macht
Jun 1
7 min read

Happy National Dinosaur Day, readers, writers, and prehistoric adventurers! 🦕🌎 Today we're celebrating with a story that blends science, history, and imagination in a truly unforgettable way. We're thrilled to spotlight award-winning author Jane Kurtz and her new book Mary Morland in the Time of Dinosaurs.

Follow the inspiring journey of Mary Morland, a curious young fossil hunter who challenged society's expectations and helped shape the field of paleontology. With its lively question-and-answer format, this celebrated picture book biography makes an ideal read-aloud for budding dinosaur enthusiasts.

Want to learn more about Jane Kurtz and Mary Morland in the Time of Dinosaurs, PLUS want a chance to win a copy of your own? Read on… 🦖📚

Q: Hi, Jane! Thanks for joining SeasonsOfKidLit.com. We’re thrilled to feature you on National Dinosaur Day and hear all about you and your book, Mary Morland in the Time of Dinosaurs. Please share the inspiration behind your book and a little about your path to publication.

A. I tell people that I’m in my dinosaur phase, and my book about Mary Morland started with a nonfiction picture book called The Bone Wars, the true story of an epic battle between O.C. Marsh and Edward Cope to find and name dinosaur fossils in the United States. Next came my picture book biography about Dr. Karen Chin, who studies dinosaur poo. A piece of fossilized poo is called a coprolite, and Dr. Chin told me some people think O.C. Marsh came up with the name as a way to call Edward Cope something unpleasant. But actually the name was invented by William Buckland, a professor in England who also named the very first dinosaur (Megalosaurus) before the word dinosaur was invented. And Mary Morland created illustrations so that William Buckland could introduce Megalosaurus to a room full of amazed scientists. Reader, she married him. They maintained a wild household full of kids, animals, fossils, and science experiments. Reading about it all reminded me of the way my mom kept house, so I had to try my hand at a picture book biography about Mary Morland. (As one reader said to me, “So nerdy moms like us have existed for a long time.”) When I sent my story to the editor of The Bone Wars (at Beach Lane/S&S), she agreed that Mary’s fascinating story of living and working in the shadows should be out in the world.

Q: What will readers enjoy most about your book? Why is your book a perfect fit for every season?

A. I love reading voicey biographies and memoir—and recently published my own almost true verse story of one year of my odd childhood. Picture book biographies are like tiny, distilled memoirs in a way, because they aren’t meant to be a collection of facts but rather a peek into the inner lives of interesting humans. Readers (and I’m one of them) always seem to be curious about what it’s really like to be another human being. It’s gripping to read about someone whose life remains kind of hidden but is full of details that show me life in another time and place. Who knew that hopeful young women used to sleep with a piece of wedding cake under their pillows, for example? It was supposed to be a way to bring them good luck in finding a husband.

My picture book biography is a great fit for the whole year: National Dinosaur Day (June 1), International Dinosaur Day (3^rd Tuesday in May), Women’s History Month (March), International Day of Women and Girls in Science (February 11), Citizen Science Month (April), National Dinosaur Month (October), National Book Lover’s Day (August 9), and even National Poop Day (February 10). This summer, the public library reading theme is “Unearth A Story,” and Mary’s true story is a great fit for that theme all summer long.

Readers, check out these amazing colorful illustrations by Giselle Potter!

Q: What do you love most about National Dinosaur Day and how does that show in your book?

A. To someone like me who visited Dinosaur National Park as an eight-year-old, every season is dinosaur season. So much to learn and be curious about! National Dinosaur Day is perfect. But I also like April—Citizen Science Month—because I got intrigued with citizen science when I wrote a book for American Girl that focused on saving monarch butterflies. Now I try to use my own backyards for birds and bees and butterflies (and worms) and the plants that support them.

Mary Morland didn’t have anyone giving her permission to study the world around her and figure out the connections and interesting things she was seeing. Her husband, William Buckland, was a friend to Mary Anning—another inspiring woman of that time who had no permission or education to draw on—and Mary Anning and William Buckland figured out coprolites from using their eyes and brains. William Buckland and Mary Morland later had a table in their home that featured a collection of coprolites.

The physicist Freeman Dyson said education often presents science as “a collection of firmly established truths.” That’s what my elementary and high school science classes were like. In contrast, he said, science is actually “a continuing exploration of mysteries.” I’m in love with the way dinosaur discoveries are an ongoing exploration of mysteries and how Mary Morland was part of that exploration before people knew even a tiny bit of what we now know about the ancient earth.

Q. How did you find the details of someone whose life was more-or-less hidden from view?

A. Since Mary’s life as a girl wasn’t documented well, I had to focus on the context of what it was like to be a girl in those days. My daughter teaches 18^th century literature at Boston College, and when I asked her, “What should I read to understand that time and place?” she said, “Jane Austen.” I not only went back to Jane Austen’s work but also turned to books about Jane Austen’s world, and that’s how I was able to ask provocative (one review said “cheeky”) questions to get young readers to imagine themselves into that life. We can barely grasp what it would be like to not have access to education if you were a curious and nerdy girl, for example. Mary educated herself, using close observation, illustrations, reading, copying passages into her journals.

I took out most of the details on the page that described how she educated herself to be a scientist because the word “copying” sounds so dull and unoriginal. The book illustrations ended up carrying the weight for that page so that readers could put themselves into Mary’s shoes. I was lucky to find a few accounts of important moments in her life—such as the day she was riding in a stagecoach reading a science tome and connected with William Buckland, the fossilist she worked with and eventually married, who was reading the same book.

Q: What surprised you most about your book’s path to publication?

A. Honestly, I loved the voice that came to me for telling Mary’s story—it made me laugh so hard, and it made my sister (who was on a writing retreat with me) laugh even harder. But I had no idea that my editor would read my draft and immediately want to publish it. My other dinosaur books have taken a lot more revision to find just the right approach that honors the fact that they are nonfiction while still creating a compelling story to read.

I’m not saying Mary’s story was easy to write. Far from it. But I knew that the world of picture book biographies was a crowded one and I would have to send my editor something that would stand out. Sometimes “standing out” also means “too weird to appeal to most readers.” It always feels chancy to try something that doesn’t really fit any formula. When I took a deep breath and sent it to her, my editor not only immediately loved it, she seemed to easily find just the right illustrator with a funny, quirky take on the details of that time and place far from ours.

A lot of my picture book success has been finding just the right idea—original but not too far-out—and just the right way to make that idea come to life. I’m essentially in love with everything I decide to try, so I can’t always tell if I’ve hit the mark. It takes courage to put a fledgling picture book manuscript out into the world, and I’m THRILLED when it works.

Congrats on a successful book! And on all the book praise you received, too! Readers, check out what Kirkus and Publisher's Weekly is saying about Jane's book!

★ “A delightful STEAM biography that spotlights a female scientist who deserves to be better known.” – Kirkus (starred)

★ “Wry interrogative narration energizes this engaging portrait.” – Publishers Weekly (starred)

Q: Would you like to leave a tip or a treat for our readers?

A: A TREAT! I'd love to give away a copy of my book to one lucky reader.

Thanks for a dino-tastic treat, Jane! And thanks again for joining us - we loved having you and hearing more about your book!

Giveaway Details: Readers, to enter to win Jane's book giveaway, 1) share this post on social media and 2.) leave a comment below to thank her for stopping by. Dino GIFs are ALWAYS encouraged here at #SeasonsOfKidLit, too! ;)

Giveaway winners will be drawn and announced on or about 06/15!

Books will be shipped in the US only.

Jane Kurtz was born in Portland, Oregon, but spent most of her childhood in Ethiopia. Jane speaks about being an author at schools and conferences and is the volunteer director of the bilingual book project at Open Hearts Big Dreams . She is the author of many books for children, including The Bone Wars, illustrated by Alexander Vidal; What Do They Do with All that Poo?, illustrated by Allison Black; The Clues Are In the Poo: The Story of Dinosaur Scientist Karen Chin, illustrated by Francisco Riolobos; Clara the Triumphant Rhinoceros, illustrated by Claire Messer; Oh Give Me A Home: A Mostly True Story in Verse; and the American Girl book Lanie. To learn more, visit janekurtz.com.