A Bone from a Dry Sea by Peter Dickinson

She's almost ageless in her maturity-you just know that she's younger than the others, but sometimes sees things more clearly than they do (which is why she's a good foil for Li).Ī Bone From a Dry Sea is a 1992 Carnegie Medal winning middle grade novel with a dual timeline. When I was reading this at 10 or 11 or 12, I never wondered about Vinny's age-the things that she did that were extremely adult, like breaking down her feelings about her divorced parents so matter-of-factly, or standing up to Joe Hamiska, felt natural. On this read of the book I was much more interested in how old Vinny is supposed to be, which is the sign of a well-written YA novel. And, of course, the narratives end up colliding with the discovery of a bone from a dry sea. I love both stories: the Li narrative is imaginative and strange, and the Vinny narrative paints an interesting picture of paleontological life. The other half follows Li, an ancient hominid who begins to expand the boundaries of her tribe's knowledge. Half of the book follows Vinny, the daugher of a modern-day paleontologist (well, taphonomist) who visits the dig site that he's working on in Africa. It's an odd little novel that imagines our distant ancestors as sea apes.

Mass Market Paperbound (May 1st, 1995): $6.I immediately thought about this book when I started reading Sapiens, about the history of our species.

Peter Dickinson died on December 16, 2015, at the age of eighty-eight. He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2009 for services to literature. Dickinson served as chairman of the Society of Authors and was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Dickinson was shortlisted nine times for the prestigious Carnegie Medal for children's literature and was the first author to win it twice.

The author of twenty-one crime and mystery novels for adults, Dickinson was the first to win the Gold Dagger Award of the Crime Writers' Association for two books running: The Glass-Sided Ants Nest (1968) and The Old English Peepshow (1969). His books have been published in several languages throughout the world.

From 1952 to 1969 he was on the editorial staff of Punch, and since then earned his living writing fiction of various kinds for children and adults.

Peter Dickinson was born in Africa but raised and educated in England.

A Bone from a Dry Sea by Peter Dickinson