The Griffin and the Dinosaur by Marc Aronson with Adrienne Mayor

Published by National Geographic Kids
Illustrated by Chris Muller

An exciting adventure in a way, this story begins with Adrienne Mayor born in 1946, as a young schoolgirl who is fascinated by mythology and in particular with the story of the Griffin. How does a shy, quiet kid from Souix Falls, South Dakota, come to develop a new field of research - geomythology? This book by Marc Aronson follows her path as student from country to country as she searches through ancient texts about mythical creatures. This is no easy task as she learns ancient languages in order to read these texts.

How Adrienne is able to discover what others miss is the way she thinks. She is sure that these ancient people had to have seen something real, even if only bones. She knows she is onto something meaningful and very early in history. At first she knows very little about these early dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, but she is determined and learns. Her goal is set on the Griffin. There must have been bones of a real animal to influence the people of the time. Therefore, she must go back through the pages of time to find one thing. Where did the first story come from, and why? The Griffin was said to protect gold. Where was gold found along with prehistoric bones? This is how she progressed until finally finding the link from paleontology to her "Griffin."

A fascinating story for young and old, a detective story of how to seek and find from the most ancient of times.

Bone Hunter by Sarah Andrews

Read May 3, 2008


Sarah Andrews is an author to fall in love with. Her research is exceptional, her characters are fully formed and human, her mysteries full of red herrings and delightful turnarounds and always full of factual information. The series lead character, who tells the story in first person, is Em Hansen, is a forensic geologist; she teaches, often consults for the police and occasionally the FBI. This is the fifth book in the series (published in 1999), In this time out, she has been invited to speak at a Paleontology conference in Utah and the story begins the minute you open the book. To quote the opening paragraph, 'It’s all true. When the squad car rolled up behind me and the loudspeaker blared, “Hold it, right there!” I was, in fact, trying to break into George Dishey’s house. But I had an excuse. Really.'

In Andrews’ books you will find consistency of writing, often vastly different forensic applications of geology, as in the study of pigments, used to solve an art crime. In Bone Hunter, we learn of the good, the bad and the ugly sides of paleontology, from the historic to the criminal. Taking place in Utah, we also learn a great deal about the Mormon religion and renegade cults residing in the vast landscape of hidden canyons. Em has unwittingly become a suspect in the murder of George Dishey, a “renowned dinosaur expert”. Ms. Andrews has written an exciting and suspenseful book, a puzzling complexity of dinosaurs, science, liars, religion, and a dash of the psychic. A great mixed bag of fun. I highly recommend this and other books by Sarah Andrews.

One thing more, I found the Author’s Note about her research for the book fascinating, almost as much so as the story.