Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake) | J 921 HAWKINS | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | J 921 HAWKINS | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
This extraordinary true story introduces readers to the unforgettable Waterhouse Hawkins: Victorian artist and visionary who built the world's first life-size models of dinosaurs!Can you fathom a time when almost no one in the world knew what a dinosaur looked like? That was true in the mid-nineteenth century, until Victorian artist Waterhouse Hawkins built the first life-size models of dinosaurs, first in his native England and later in New York City, and dazzled the world with his awe-inspiring creations. With impeccable attention to detail, Barbara Kerley unearths a story of consuming passion, triumph, loss, and courage--and ultimately, of an extraordinary legacy that lives on today. Caldecott Medalist Brian Selznick celebrates this complex and fascinating individual through luminous, soul-stirring paintings that form a visual masterpiece.
Author Notes
Brian Selznick's books have sold millions of copies, garnered countless awards worldwide, and been translated into more than 35 languages. He broke open the novel form with his innovative and genre-defying thematic trilogy, beginning with the Caldecott Medal-winning #1 New York Times bestseller The Invention of Hugo Cabret , adapted into Martin Scorsese's Oscar-winning movie Hugo . He followed that with the #1 New York Times bestseller, Wonderstruck , adapted into the eponymous movie by celebrated filmmaker Todd Haynes, with a screenplay by Selznick, and the New York Times bestseller, The Marvels . Selznick's two most recent books for young people, Baby Monkey, Private Eye , an ALA Notable Book co-written with his husband David Serlin, and Kaleidoscope , a New York Times Notable Children's Book of 2021, were both New York Times bestsellers as well. He also illustrated the 20th anniversary edition covers of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. Selznick and Serlin divide their time between Brooklyn, New York and La Jolla, California. Learn more at thebrianselznick.com and mediaroom.scholastic.com/brianselznick.
Barbara Kerley is a two-time Sibert Honoree and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honoree whose award-winning biographies include What to Do About Alice? , The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy) , Those Rebels, John & Tom , and A Home for Mr. Emerson , all illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham; Tigers & Tea with Toppy , illustrated by Matte Stephens; and The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins and Walt Whitman: Words for America , illustrated by Brian Selznick. Kerley's books have all been praised for their lively prose, meticulous research, and artistic presentation style. She lives in Portland, Oregon. Visit her online at barbarakerley.com.
Reviews (5)
Horn Book Review
This picture book introduces the English artist who, using the few fossils available, created the earliest models of dinosaurs. After his work was displayed at EnglandÆs Crystal Palace Park, he came to the United States with plans to bring dinosaurs to Central Park. KerleyÆs pithy text is a good match for SelznickÆs attractive art, which is clear-eyed yet contains a dash of magic. From HORN BOOK Spring 2002, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-5-A picture-book presentation about the efforts of Hawkins to erect the first life-sized models of dinosaurs on both sides of the Atlantic. A Victorian artist and sculptor, he was well respected in England, and his reputation insured his being invited to construct replicas of creatures no one had ever seen and to unveil them at the newly constructed Crystal Palace. Kerley's spirited text and Selznick's dramatic paintings bring Hawkins's efforts into clear focus, including his frustrating experience in New York City when Boss Tweed set vandals loose in his workshop. Both author and illustrator provide copious notes of biographical material delineating Hawkins's works, and Selznick's trips to Philadelphia to view a rare scrapbook that is the model for this book's design and to London to see the original Crystal Palace models. Painstakingly researched, written and illustrated with careful attention to detail, this book presents the fervor and spirit of a dedicated, little-known individual whose conceptions-however erroneous by today's discoveries-astounded the minds and stirred the imaginations of scientists then involved in the actual birth of paleontology. A distinguished book in every way.-Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
One look at this amazing-but-true picture book introducing the little-known artist Hawkins and his dreams of dinosaurs, and kids may well forget about Jurassic Park. As a child growing up in 19th-century London, Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins discovered his passion: drawing and sculpting animal figures, especially prehistoric dinosaurs. His artistic talent and his goalAto build life-size models of dinosaurs envisioned from scientific fossilsAled him to work with noted anatomist Richard Owen and complete a special commission from Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, an installation of dinosaur statues, much of which still stands in contemporary Sydenham, England. During the project, Hawkins courted the scientific community by hosting a lavish New Year's Eve dinner party inside his life-size model of an iguanodon (the bill of fare is reproduced on the final page). Selznick (The Houdini Box, see p. 94) builds to the dramatic moment by showing readers a peek at giant reptilian toes through a parted curtain. Kerley (Songs of Papa's Island) leads readers into further exploration of Hawkins by presenting copious but never dull details of the stages of his life and works, including efforts in the U.S., thwarted by Boss Tweed. Throughout, she suffuses her text with a contagious sense of wonder and amazement. Selznick enthusiastically joins the excitement with his intricate compositions, capturing Hawkins's devotion to his art and depicting the dapper man with wild white hair as a spirited visionary and showman. The elegant design on tall pages gives the dinosaur models their due from various perspectives, and scenery of the period additionally grounds the work in historic context. Extensive author and illustrator notes denote the extensive (and fun) research both undertook for this extraordinary volume. Ages 6-up. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Gr. 3-5, younger for reading aloud. What a marvelous pairing: the life of the nineteenth-century British dinosaur maven Waterhouse Hawkins and Selznick's richly evocative, Victorian-inspired paintings. Hawkins had been drawing and sculpting animals from his childhood. As an adult he set to work trying to recreate what a living dinosaur looked like based on fossil remains. Hawkins' dinosaur sculptures still stand in Sydenham, England, a better fate than what happened to those he built in New York City. There, Hawkins ran afoul of Boss Tweed; children can thrill to the idea that broken pieces of Hawkins' dinosaurs still lie buried in Central Park. Kerley also regales her audience with the story of Hawkins' New Year's Eve dinner, with guests seated inside the shell of the iguanodon he was building. Selznick's art is wonderfully wrought, innovative in its choices, clever in what and how he chose to illustrate. Equally fantastic is the execution: oh, those dinosaurs! Extensive notes from the author and illustrator are clear enough even for younger children and provide a genuine sense of the thrill of research. Although many of Hawkins' dinosaur models are now known to be inaccurate, the passion of his life and his single-minded pursuit of it rings loud and clear. Appealing on many levels, this picture book for older readers will be a favorite dinosaur book for years to come.--GraceAnne A. DeCandido
Kirkus Review
Who could resist? Staring straight out from the handsome album-like cover is a slight man with a shock of white hair and an intense, intelligent gaze. Over his shoulder looms the enormous mouth of a dinosaur. This is perfectly designed to pique reader's curiosity with one of the strangest true stories dinosaur lovers will ever read. The man is Waterhouse Hawkins, who, in Victorian England, devoted his life to making ordinary people aware of dinosaurs at a time when most had never heard of them and could not imagine what they looked like. Hawkins, an established author/illustrator of books on animal anatomy, estimated the scale of the dinosaurs from their bones, made clay models, erected iron skeletons with brick foundations and covered them over with cement casts to create dramatic public displays. Such was Hawkins's devotion to his work that he engaged the Queen's patronage, catered to the fathers of paleontology at a dinner party inside an iguanodon model, and was invited to bring his dinosaur models to Central Park. It was in New York that Hawkins's story turned grimly sad. Antagonizing Boss Tweed with some ill-chosen words, Hawkins thereafter found his dinosaurs smashed and buried beneath Central Park, where they remain today. The fascinating story, well documented in authoritative, readable author and illustrator notes, is supported by creative decisions in illustration, bookmaking, and design. Hawkins was a showman, and Selznick presents his story pictorially as high melodrama, twice placing the hero front stage, before a curtain revealing a glimpse of the amazing dinosaurs. Turns of the page open onto electrifying, wordless, double-page spreads. A boy who appears at the book's beginning and end (where he sits on a park bench in Central Park while fragments of the lost dinosaurs lie among the tree roots below) affects a touching circularity. Stunning. (Nonfiction. 5-10)
