A new children's book, co-authored by John M. Dolbey '92 and his daughter Mae, tells the story of a courageous young iguanodon who leads his herd in a new direction.
Over several years, John M. Dolbey '92 indulged his daughter's fascination with dinosaurs through a series of stories the two made up together about some young iguanodons and their adventures. Now, those stories have become the children's book Sunrise Over Fire Rock Field, co-authored by Dolbey and daughter Mae. The chapter book, aimed at first to third grade reading levels, tells the story of Iggy the iguanodon, his sisters Guana and Dawn, and their friends, as they look for a way to remedy a food shortage and protect their plant-eating herd from meat-eating predators. Along the way, they discover that success will require working with lots of other dinosaur species, listening to their elders and recruiting some surprising allies. Dolbey, who lives with his family in Cincinnati where he works in software development, hopes that children and parents alike will enjoy the tale and appreciate what it has to say about cooperation, tolerance and teamwork.“With all of the conflict in the world today, these are very relevant and powerful messages,” says Dolbey, who has been pleased with the book's reception so far. In addition to selling on Amazon.com, more than a dozen museums across the country, including the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia and Chicago's Field Museum, have picked up Sunrise over Fire Rock Field for their gift shops.
