The Extinct Files: My Science Project

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

The scientific method meets a unique version of the “my pet ate my
homework” excuse as Edwards combines text and illustration to provide
a delightful explanation for the non-submission of young Wally’s
school science project.

Wally’s hypothesis is that dinosaurs are not extinct because he has
photographic evidence. His science report includes his apparatus list
and research methodology, plus his observations categorized by the
dinosaurs’ habitat, diet, grooming, health and fitness, locomotion,
communication, mating and offspring, defences, education, occupations,
and recreation. Wally concludes that not only are dinosaurs not extinct,
but they have evolved, becoming quite shy and private. Unknown to Wally,
the DIA (Dinosaur Intelligence Agency), having become aware of Wally’s
activities, have covertly entered his house and filched his completed
science report, leaving behind only a corner torn from the report’s
final page by an errant dinosaur claw. The book concludes with the
hand-printed letter, with the torn corner attached as evidence, that
Wally submitted to his teacher, Ms. Edwards, to explain why he has no
science project report.

The text, with its frequent play on words, is quite amusing, but the
humour in Edwards’s “photographs” takes The Extinct Files to
another level. Design-wise, the book truly resembles a child’s science
project: illustrated green string “ties” the three-ring pages
(circular white reinforcements included) into the report’s covers.
Wally’s coloured photos are even “attached” to the pages with
non-glare “Scotch tape.” Fun reading, The Extinct Files would be a
terrific addition to an integrated science/language arts class. Highly
recommended.