When dinosaurs thundered across the land, and enormous reptiles swam in the salty oceans, reptiles called pterosaurs ruled the ancient skies.  Claire Ewart transports readers back to the age of the dinosaurs to take flight with a majestic pterosaur that soared through the skies more than ninety million years ago, following it from sunup to sunup. When the pterosaur finally lives out its natural life, layers of Earth and layers of time create a fossil—an amazing transformation that happens over millions of years.

Reviews

Chosen as a November 2004
Great Read Aloud by Booklinks
Recommended by the Field Guide for Parenting
Nominated for the Great Lakes Great Books honor

"The moving and graceful story of how a fossil comes to be.  Elegant, full-page watercolors… Beautifully illustrated science with a philosophical flavor." -Kirkus Reviews
 
“The rich, rhyming text flows smoothly, lyrically…  Ewart's inviting text and dramatic artwork… describe the fossilization process in an engrossing way. This book should have wide appeal." -School Library Journal

“Dinosaur fans…will likely clamor for this snapshot of archeological and paleontological history.” -Publisher’s Weekly

“This gateway to the deep past makes engaging listening for emergent naturalists and younger dinophiles." -Booklist

"Kneeling over the just-discovered fossil of a flying reptile, a child imagines the long history of the creature, gliding over Mesozoic seas to snap up a squid, avoid toothy predators, and return to an island nest; and also after it died, sank to the ocean bottom, and, over 'millions of days,' underwent a slow transformation as the Earth changed overhead and all around. There's a dreamy quality to Ewart's brief rhyme ('Weary bone, wing tips grazing wave and foam, gliding toward an island home . . .') that is echoed in her watercolors' flowing lines, graceful forms, and subdued hues. Closely based on current theories of pterosaur habitats and behavior, but low on violence, this gateway to the deep past makes engaging listening for emergent naturalists and younger dinophiles. A bibliography and a page of additional information on fossils are appended." -Booklist

"The moving and graceful story of how a fossil comes to be. 'I found a stone / that once was bone,' says a girl on a beach, leaning over the fossilized head of an ornithocheirus. Elegant, full-page watercolors sweep backward in time to follow several days in the life of this pterosaur as it fishes, sleeps, wakes, and feeds its young. The minimal text is as much poetry as information: 'Strong bone, / skimming salty breeze, / scooping squid from teeming seas.' Ewart addresses the vastness of time between then and now when the ornithocheirus dies: 'Still bone, / silent bone, living days done. / But millions of days are yet to come' — days of the bone being embraced by ocean-floor silt and then replaced by minerals as the nearby shoreline shows the earth evolving. Beautifully illustrated science with a philosophical flavor." -Kirkus Reviews

"At the beginning of this imaginative picture book, a girl finds a fossil ('I found a stone / that once was bone'). The action then jumps back in time to trace the life, death, and fossilization of the flying reptile whose remains she has discovered. The rich, rhyming text flows smoothly, lyrically describing a typical day for the female pterosaur: 'Strong bone, / skimming salty breeze, / scooping squid from teeming seas.' Vibrant watercolors capture her power and graceful motion, while striking splashes of blues, greens, and yellows create vivid backgrounds of sky and sea. When the pterosaur dies, she sinks into the bottom of the ocean, 'living days done. / But millions of days are left to come.' The paintings depict how the creature's bones turn to fossils over time, while above, the earth's surface continues to change. The satisfying final spread shows the girl from the first page, now with her mother, and repeats the opening lines. An afterword fills in some of the details about pterosaurs and how fossils are formed. Ewart's inviting text and dramatic artwork work nicely together to describe the fossilization process in an engrossing way. This book should have wide appeal."
-School Library Journal

Activities

Find out what creatures lived near you millions of years ago.

Have a “dig”.

Examine a fossil and learn about the world in which that creature lived.

Make a diorama of life as it was when your fossil was alive.

Write a story or poem about your fossil.