The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins by Barbara Kerley, Brian Selznick
My rating: 4/5 cats
In 1853 Waterhouse Hawkins was an English illustrator and sculptor who was commissioned by Queen Victoria to build life-sized sculptures of dinosaurs for the Crystal Palace, an art and science museum in England. This was to be the first time the average citizen would be able to see what a dinosaur looked like. Prior to this honor, Hawkins had illustrated the work of Charles Darwin, so he was eminently qualified in the fields of evolution and illustration to “create” the first dinosaurs.
This Caldecott Honor book brings to light a fascinating piece of history of which few people are aware. Brian Selznick’s illustrations capture the excitement of people seeing something of our planet’s past for the first time. After the success of the Crystal Palace, Waterhouse was asked to build dinosaurs for a museum proposed to be built in Central Park. The infamous Boss Tweed put a stop to the project, and after public backlash, had Waterhouse’s dinosaurs intended for the museum destroyed and buried in Central Park, where they remain. The illustrations for this segment of the book are particularly effective, highlighting both the callous disregard of Boss Tweed, and Waterhouse’s despair over the destruction of his project.
Despite the glut of books and other media available on the subject, dinosaurs continue to fascinate readers of all ages. The book showcases the root of this fascination, and unearths from obscurity a life of artistry and determination whose work was instrumental in providing the information we have now about dinosaurs.
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