Suitabook

How the dinosaur got to the museum

Jessie Hartland

Reading: Read the cumulative sequence aloud, then revisit the illustrations to find each role. Use the backmatter to extend questions about Diplodocus, fossils, discovery and how museum exhibits are made.
Themes: Many kinds of museum work: The fossil’s journey involves a discoverer, paleontologist, excavators, movers, preparators, curator, night watchman, welders, riggers, exhibits staff, cleaner and museum director. The book clearly gives value and visibility to the wide range of work needed to create a public exhibit.
From fossil discovery to public display: The book traces Diplodocus bones from discovery in Utah to identification, preparation, movement and display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Its stated purpose is to explain the stages involved in bringing a fossil from its original discovery into a museum exhibit.
Worth knowing: The book presents fossil discovery and museum display as a chain of specialised work. You might pause over who makes decisions, whose labour is visible, and how a specimen’s journey is represented.