The Great Whale of Kansas, by Richard Jennings
Middle kid and I just happened to run across this book while browsing at the library. I did not even realize, at the time, that Richard Jennings was a member of the Kansas Authors Club. We took it home to try it out as our read-aloud for the week. Nobody was disappointed. It only took us about three days to read as we found it quite the page turner. We couldn’t wait to get back to the book to find out just exactly what this lucky 11-year-old boy was digging up.
In fictitious Melville, Kansas, the geographic center of the United States (the actual geographic center is near a little town called Lebanon, Kansas), a boy begins digging a hole with the goal of creating his own backyard pond. What he uncovers, however, is a fossil the size of his family’s mini van. Even though a “fossil expert” from the state museum dubs his find insignificant, the boy’s quest (and hole) grows as he realizes he has not one fossil, but two. The smaller fossil appears to be within the belly of something much, much larger; big enough that it defies all that is known about time and Kansas history.
This book is filled with great tidbits of information and facts about fossils and Kansas geological history, yet also has that spark of fantasy that grabbed the imaginations of my children (ages 6, 8, & 10). It is a whale of a tale, and one I highly recommend.
Richard Jennings Official Website
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