Module 11 - The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins

ALA Notable Book

Caldecott Honor

Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year

Bibliography:

Kerley, B. (2000). The dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins: an illuminating history of Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins, artist and lecturer. New York: Scholastic.

Summary:

Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins was an artist and who worked closely with a scientist to bring dinosaurs to life. Waterhouse was able to make determinations about the fossils to create life-size replicas of what the dinosaurs in Europe may have looked like, based on what scientists knew at the time about the fossils and how they compared to existing animals of the time. He used this as an opportunity to educate people about dinosaurs and was given the opportunity to create models of American dinosaurs for an area of Central Park dedicated solely for this purpose. That is until a corrupt politician and vandals put an end to it. So he moved on and created skeletons and murals for Princeton and the Smithsonian Institution before heading back home to Europe at the age of 71. Although many of his creations have been proven to be inaccurate as more fossils are discovered, he gave modern society the first glimpse of another time period. Some of his creations are still standing today.

Impressions:

What a fantastic story! I was entranced at the leap of faith this artist took by essentially creating something from almost nothing. What he did was bring the past to meet the present and although outdated now, he was a visionary for his time. I think students can connect to this person who went out on a limb and did something great.

Reviews:

Barbara Kerley's biography covers three periods in the life of Waterhouse Hawkins in England and America to chronicle his lifetime pursuit of scientific information and the artistic representation of dinosaurs. In the mid-1800s, with only a few dinosaur bones and tremendous creativity, Hawkins became the first person to extrapolate what dinosaurs might have looked like and to cast molds of them for the world to see. Aided by Richard Owen, the leading comparative anatomist of his time, Hawkins sculpted and gave "life" to dinosaurs housed, even today, in England's Crystal Palace. By contrast, his attempt to create similar models in New York City was thwarted by Boss Tweed's revengeful destruction of his work. Kerley baits readers by suggesting that the remains of Hawkins's dinosaur models may still be unearthed in Central Park. Kerley portrays the eternally inquisitive Hawkins as an entertainer as well as an artist and a scientist. Using a circus like design, from the Iguanodon dinner invitation used as the front bookplate to the menu on the back endpaper, Selznick reveals Hawkins's eccentricity. Dinner inside an Iguanodon is too good to miss.

The extensively researched endnotes by the author and the illustrator demonstrate use of primary documents such asl9th-century newspapers and Hawkins's own scrapbook, a 50-cent garage sale find. This scrapbook inspired the simulated leather cover and many of Selznick's artistic interpretations. Hawkins and Kerley model the inquiry process and may inspire readers to pursue biographical or scientific knowledge.

Duthie, C., Nancy, L. H., Julie, M. J., Richard, M. K., & al, e. (2002). The dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins. Language Arts, 80(1), 71.

Hawkins, a British artist who combined scientific observation with sculptorly imagination to create the earliest full-scale dinosaur reconstructions, receives fanciful biographical treatment in three "ages" (chapters), corresponding to stages in his career. Kerley focuses on his commissions in England and the United States and on the destruction of his models-doubtless at the orders of New York's infamous Boss Tweed. Although there is much intrinsic interest in this aspect of Hawkins' story, dinophiles are here to see how Hawkins' interpolations stand the test of subsequent scholarship, and this juicy topic gets short shrift. Selznick's closing scene of comparative dinos displays anatomical contrasts, but it does so in a cartoonish fashion that may not satisfy children who take all this quite seriously. Dinosaurs rendered in fierce blues, teals, and purples would likely feel more at home on a toy shelf than on a museum display, and the two concluding pages of dense, double-columned author and illustrator notes pack intriguing details that listeners would probably have appreciated within the text. Still, this is a childfriendly introduction to an aspect of scientific procedure, and young museumgoers might justly ponder how today's life-size reconstructions may alter in years hence.

Bush, E. (2001). The dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins. Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, 55(2), 62.

Uses:

Since my library is part of a magnet school which concentrates on law and medicine, I would use this book to assist the art and science departments with introducing a unit on reconstruction of faces when only a skull is found.