Young Discoverers: Adventures in Real-Life Curiosity and Discovery

Gr 3-6–Amazing discoveries from across the globe are described in this collection of tales about young people and their famous finds. Arranged chronologically, the tales begin with a gold rush sparked by a nugget found by a young boy in 1799 and end with a Viking sword discovered by an eight-year-old girl in 2018. Other fantastic revelations include King Tut’s tomb, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and a supernova. Leroy’s digitally created illustrations depict the sites of these discoveries, including the freezing Arctic Circle, England’s windswept Jurassic Coast, and the cramped interior of the Rising Star cave system in South Africa. The entry for each discovery includes the location, the date, the age of the lucky finder, and a description of the events. Along with explanations of the value and importance of each discovery, the text also points out the discrimination and unfairness in many of these situations. For example, Mary Anning was an expert on fossils, but it was a field believed to be for men only, so she did not receive proper recognition during her lifetime; many other people who discovered valuable items never received any compensation or renown. At the end of the book, readers are encouraged to consider some of the treasures that are still waiting to be found, such as the bones of as-yet-unknown dinosaur species and the lost Fabergé eggs that belonged to the Russian royal family: “What are you waiting for? Get out there and get discovering!”