Tribute To Mary Anning Poem by Rachel Mary Jane Arnold

What inspired me to write this poem was the book 'Stone Girl, Bone Girl', which told the story of how Mary Anning was seen as different to most children, as well as how she amazingly discovered the first complete Ichthyosaur fossil at the age of 12. I learnt in this book that Mary Anning got teased for her hobby of fossil hunting, the kids who teased her sung the song, 'Stone girl, bone girl, out-on-your-own girl', which upset her. So this inspired me to write a song/poem which I could imagine myself singing to Mary Anning to show encouragement and admiration of her. She discovered the first complete Ichthyosaur fossil at age 12, which made her a very remarkable girl. As far as I know, there aren't any songs/poems written to pay tribute to Mary Anning, so that's another reason why I wanted to write a poem - especially in the form of a nursery rhyme - to help pay tribute to her.