A storybook series · Grades 1 and 2
The Fossil Door
An old door at the back of a museum opens onto the time of the dinosaurs, and each trip brings back one true thing.
3 books
Start here
Book 1: The Runaway Egg · Grades 1 and 2
At the back of the museum, behind the biggest skeleton, there is an old wooden door. A brass dial sits in the middle of it, like a clock with no hands. Dr. Okafor turns a big brass key. Clunk. "Would you like to see where the bones came from, your child's name?" she asks.
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Books in this series
- Book 1: The Runaway Egg · Grades 1 and 2 · English · العربية
- Book 2: The Longest Neck · Grades 1 and 2 · English · العربية
- Book 3: Three Horns and a Frill · Grades 1 and 2 · English · العربية
- Book 4: The Mystery of the Ginger Fluff · Not ready to read yet
Meet the world
At the back of the natural history museum is an old wooden door with a brass dial set in it like a clock with no hands. Dr. Ada Okafor, the museum's palaeontologist, turns the dial, and your child and their Pet step through into a time millions of years ago.
Each trip is to a real place and time: a hill of nests in Montana, a fern forest in Colorado, a lake in China. A bell rings once, twice, three times, and on the third it is time to head home, with one true thing for the Field Notebook.
Every book is one trip, and each can be read on its own. The dinosaurs are big and real, and never chase, hunt or frighten anyone.
Who is in it
- Dr. Ada Okafor: the palaeontologist who keeps the key and the three rules: head home at the third bell, bring back one true thing, never pick up an egg. You hear her voice; you never see her painted.
- Your child's Pet: first through the door every time. It shouts "Jurassic!" whatever the dial says, names each new animal after itself, and gets one thing wrong a trip, then laughs at itself first.
- The bell: rings once, twice, three times. The third ring means it is time to walk back to the door.
- The Field Notebook: gets one page from every trip.
- The hero: your child, by name, or Sam if they would rather.
Play and make
- The nest (dinosaurs) · After The Runaway Egg
- How many do you think? · After The Runaway Egg
- Who lives here? · After The Runaway Egg
- Big and small (dinosaurs) · After The Longest Neck
- Plant-eater or meat-eater? (dinosaurs) · After The Longest Neck
- When I was little · After Three Horns and a Frill
- A cardboard dinosaur · After Three Horns and a Frill
For grown-ups
What the series practises
- Current dinosaur science, told plainly: what was found, where and how long ago
- Noticing and comparing: footprints, eggs, horns, necks and feathers
- Counting, measuring and comparing sizes
- Keeping a safe distance from big animals, and leaving eggs and nests where they are found
- Each book lists the sources its facts come from
Ways to do it
- On their own, with their Pet
- With a grown-up beside them
- With someone far away, on a call
Each book's page says what it practises and where its facts come from: