Charles Helm

Samuel Fay was an American hunter who explored the Northern Rocky Mountains (North and West of Jasper, Alberta) over a few years, in 1912, 1913, 1914. His longest trip was 4ish months between the end of June and November, 1914, when he was hunting and collecting wildlife for the US “Biological Review”. The bulk of this book is Fay’s journals while on that trip, though the foreword is someone else’s summary/account of the trip, and there are appendices that include articles Fay wrote about his travels afterward.

I hadn’t realized before starting the book that Fay was a hunter and that was the purpose of his travel. I don’t like hunting. I did enjoy the descriptions, especially of the wildlife; I just kept hoping the next sentence after any wildlife was mentioned wouldn’t be along the lines of “so we shot one [or more]...”. I think I won the book at a conference, and it’s just been sitting here, waiting for me to read it for a while now. It’s not a long book (page-wise), but I was kept from reading it for a long time due to the tiny font in the book! It’s now done and I will donate the book. Overall, I rated it ok.… (plus d'informations)

When eight-year-old Daniel Helm (the son of author Charles Helm) and his friend Mark discover what look like dinosaur footprints while enjoying a day on Flatbed Creek, near Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, the two boys set in motion a series of finds that have great significance in the field of paleontology. Soon, dinosaur footprint expert Rich McCrea, and world-famous paleontologist Philip Currie are visiting the area, and additional footprints and bones are uncovered, eventually leading to the creation of the Tumbler Ridge Museum.

I would imagine that every dinosaur-obsessed youngster dreams of making an important discovery in the field, so this amazing true story of two Canadian boys who did just that will hold immense appeal for such children. It's not simply that Daniel and Mark discovered some dinosaur footprints, although that's exciting enough, but that their discovery led to a string of other discoveries, in an area that hadn't previously been considered very promising, when it came to dinosaur finds. These finds are also very exciting because they are from an earlier period (93 million years ago) than nearby finds in Alberta (65-75 million years ago). Illustrated with photographs of the people involved, and the discoveries made, and including some useful afterwords that give further information, Daniel's Dinosaurs is both educational and fun, and will inspire dinosaur-lovers everywhere to keep their eyes peeled for discoveries of their own!… (plus d'informations)