Jane Kurtz is the author of the new children's picture book biography Mary Moreland in the Time of Dinosaur Discovery. Her many other books include The Bone Wars. She lives in Portland, Oregon.
Q: What inspired you to write a children’s picture book biography of paleontologist Mary Morland (1797-1857)?
A: I have a delightful little bunch of books that came from following my curiosity. It started with my 2018 nonfiction picture book, WhatDo They Do With All That Poo?
That book launched me into what I’m calling my dinosaur phase: a nonfiction picture book, The Bone Wars, about two friends who became epic enemies when the first dinosaur bones were coming out of the ground in the U.S.
Did I then want to combine those two things? Yes! So next came The Clues Are In The Poo: The Story of Dinosaur Scientist Karen Chin.
I asked the editor of that book if we should include a list of books about Mary Anning in the back matter. (Mary Anning identified and her friend William Buckland named fossilized poo—coprolites.) My editor said, “Mary Anning is having a day!” Then she said something about how it seemed as if no other women of the time were engaged with fossils.
I thought about Mary Morland, who married William Buckland after their interest in fossils drew them together. There’s a famous silhouette I had seen when I read about William Buckland and writers described his chaotic, scientific household (including a tabletop made with sliced and polished coprolites). I wanted to find out more!
Q: How did you research her life, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?
A: It wasn’t really a surprise—although it was a disappointment--that I couldn’t find out much about Mary’s early life, no matter how I dug, including two trips to Oxford, England, and a chance to view her journals and some of the fossils she worked on.
The great research moment of this book was when I asked my daughter (who teaches 18th century literature at Boston College) where I should turn to understand Mary’s times, and she said, “Jane Austen.” There are some great books about Jane Austen’s time period.
I followed that rabbit trail until I had a voice and some delicious details. I knew I needed to help readers imagine just how amazing it was for Mary to be interested in science when she didn’t have access to formal education. One of my friends said, “Wow…nerdy moms have been around for a long time.” Surprise!
In that, she reminds me of my own mom, who was anything but a domestic goddess when that’s what her time period celebrated. She didn’t finish her college degree until my youngest sister was in college. Determined nerdy women!
Q: What do you think Giselle Potter’s illustrations add to the book?
A: In the day and age of AI illustrations, I’m delighted to have illustrations that are so quirky and particular and clearly made by a human.
I haven’t discussed this with Giselle, but I felt I could see how much she connected with ways that Mary captured exquisite, tiny moments through drawing. Giselle’s art really celebrates that part of Mary’s life.
I also love the ways she shows Mary’s chaotic, fascinating household and how Mary continued to use her art to inspire curiosity and wonder in kids (including her own).
Q: The Booklist review of the book said, “It’s as inspirational as it is informative, frequently posing provocative questions along the way.” What do you think of that description?
A: Agree. We need lots of inspiration (and provocation) because lots of girls still get left out of the science conversation.
Dr. Karen Chin, the paleontologist whose career path I showed in The Clues Are In the Poo, wrote to me, “I really appreciate that this book teaches kids (and reminds the rest of us) that women were rarely given credit for their scientific discoveries. Indeed, many were probably not able to pursue their love of science.”
I know I felt left out of science, and I would have been pulled in through story, so that’s part of why I’m so excited about my nonfiction picture books.
Other kids can be pulled in through visual art. As one article puts it: “Starting in the 1830s, more and more women enabled the discipline's development as they mapped, hand colored, and illustrated the country's geology.” We all need to see models of other humans to expand our dreams of what we can do.
Also, I made my sister (who was on a writing retreat with me) laugh when I stumbled onto what one person calls my “cheeky” (funny, irreverent) Q&A way of telling the story. Humor is one of my favorite ways to connect with readers.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m still in my dinosaur phase. I suppose dinosaurs were one of the few ways that science grabbed me when I was a kid (and my science education missed me so much that I still have SO much to learn, and dinosaur science is ever-changing).
Right now, I’m following my curiosity to understand more about how it is that most scientists think birds are living dinosaurs—and to see if I can make that puzzle fascinating for kids…to show that science, as Freeman Dyson (physicist and mathematician) said, isn’t a collection of truths but a continuing exploration of mysteries.
I’m also exploring a follow-up to my 2025 almost true story in verse, this time tackling traveling back from America to Ethiopia and going from home schooling to boarding school.
And I’m ALSO reading to find out more about African dinosaurs.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: When William Buckland and Mary Morland introduced the first named dinosaur, before the word dinosaur was invented, Charles Darwin hadn’t yet published his ground-breaking book.
It’s easy to overlook how much courage it took to ask astonishing questions, trust observation and not just go along with what most people thought.
Up until she died, Mary was still doing research (with one of her daughters), studying marine sponges. Sometimes we all need the reminders to hang in there. I certainly do.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Jane Kurtz.
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