Imagine being eight years old and discovering six dinosaur footprints that lead to even more startling finds, opening an entire new geographic area for dinosaur research. Daniel's Dinosaurs (Maple Tree Press $9.95) is the true story of how Daniel Helm and his friend Mark went tubing one summer's day in 2000 and chanced upon-and recognized-six shallow hand-span-sized indents in a large flat rock along a Tumbler Ridge creek bed. In his first book for children, Charles Helm, a medical doctor, outdoorsman and Daniel's father, tells the story of how the boys' discovery brought not only Rich McCrea, one of North America's top dinosaur footprint experts, to the remote and wildly beautiful northeastern British Columbia community, but also Philip Currie, the Royal Tyrrell Museum's Curator of Dinosaurs. Many more footprints were discovered, including one with a broken toe, as well as BC's first ever dinosaur skeleton which, at 93 million years old, is the oldest dinosaur ever found in Western Canada. The author's proceeds from book sales support paleontological projects of the Tumbler Ridge Museum Foundation.1-897066-07-4
--by Louise Donnelly

[BCBW 2004] "Kidlit"