Art and Science Combine As One: It’s an Iguanodon’s Horn Cover Reveal + Interview with Sean Rubin!

Is there any disappoint that cuts more cleanly to the heart than when you discover that a beautiful children’s book you’ve seen for the very first time isn’t going to come out until the following year? Just me? Well it’s a pain I should be inured to by now, but even so I never quite get used to the feeling. Case in point, today’s beautiful book.

Months ago author/artist Sean Rubin (whom you may know best from his jaw-dropping graphic novel Bolivar) gave me a look at The Iguanodon’s Horn: How Artists and Scientists Put a Dinosaur Back Together Again and Again and Again which he wrote and illustrated. This wouldn’t have been a problem except that it was instantly one of my favorite books of the year. Then I found out . . . it’s a 2024 title. There was wailing. There was some rending of garments. There was definitely a little tear in the corner of my eye.

Today, then, I shall wreck my revenge upon the world by making you too, gentle readers, wish that this book was coming out sooner than March 19, 2024. We’re going to talk to Sean about the whole, great big project and then, at the very end, a cover reveal!!

But first . . . a plot summary:

Ever since mysterious bones were found in 1822, scientists and artists have tried to figure out what the creature they came from looked like. But it seems that every time they’ve made up their minds, someone makes a new discovery, and they have to start all over. That’s only fair, though—after all, it’s how knowledge advances!

With an inviting tone and detail-filled art, Sean Rubin traces the process of defining—and redefining—the dinosaur called Iguanodon. Entertaining, accessible, and beautiful, his tale will delight dinosaur fans, budding artists, and anyone curious about how science really works. 

Darn right.

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Betsy Bird: Sean! Such a delight to talk to you! Let’s dive right in, shall we? I’ve seen you do some jaw-dropping comics in the past so this switch to nonfiction intrigues me. Particularly because this is such a fantastic look at how consistently people have gotten dinos wrong over the years. Where did this project come from? 

Sean Rubin: Thanks, Betsy! The seeds of this particular book were planted when I was finishing up BOLIVAR. There’s a really obscure visual joke in that book, which is that Bolivar is designed to look like a cartoon version of the T-Rex in Rudolph Zallinger’s “Age of Reptiles” mural at Yale’s Peabody museum, circa 1947 (say that five times fast); however, all the other depictions of dinosaurs follow scientific illustrations from around 1990-2000, i.e. from when I was in elementary school. In some ways that was an acknowledgment of how all these different versions of dinosaurs coexist in popular culture–especially because toy designs are updated so slowly. Before Jurassic Park came around, my dinosaur toys were still based on the 1930s-40s illustrations.

Anyway, a handful of people have noticed this joke over the years, and used it as a starting point to ask me, “Why do dinosaurs look different, now?” I’ve tried to answer this question the best I could, but it wasn’t until I saw an animation by Steven Bellettini for his “Your Dinosaurs Are Wrong” series, where he depicted the different versions of Iguanodon sort of morphing into each other, that I realized the story was perfect for a picture book. The story is about dinosaurs, but it’s also about art.

BB: Well, as you mentioned, I can’t help but notice that your comics about BOLIVAR were also about a dino. Have you always had this interest in the critters or is this just a bit of a coincidence that they keep popping up in your work?

SR: Yeah, you got me–I’m really fascinated by dinosaurs! I was obsessed with Jurassic Park a full two years before my parents let me watch the movie (a decision I now support, being a parent myself). Now that I’m older, I’m pretty sure it’s because dinosaur paleontology is unique because it’s a science mediated by illustrators–paleoartists. It may be the only science where an ability to draw and do research means you can actively contribute to the field without spending four semesters in calculus or organic chemistry. 

BB: Speaking of which, fun time! Research! How did you conduct it? Who did you consult? And how did you go about the process?

SR: In some ways, I’ve been researching this book forever, I just didn’t know it. A number of the resources I used were books off the shelf in my studio, including dinosaur books that I’ve had since kindergarten. Fortunately, I was also able to talk to a handful of people that could dig a bit deeper, pun intended. I soon discovered the very famous Jack Horder is quite happy to talk to paleoartists. It also happens that my college roommate is an American art curator who worked on an exhibition about Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins. Probably the most dedicated consultant was my editor’s sister, Kathryn Hoppe, who happened to be a paleontologist. Was I benefiting from coincidence after coincidence, here? Absolutely! 

BB: A plethora of talent, to say the least. Having read a fair number of dinosaur books in my day I admit that I probably fell into that old trap of assuming what they “looked” like. And of all the dino books I’ve ever read for kids, this is the very first I’ve seen to ever delve truly into the visual possibilities. Did you use any particular references coming up with that last shot in the book of those magnificently odd looking dinos?

SR: Hopefully I didn’t go too far, but I guess time will tell! The last iguanodon reconstruction was heavily inspired by artwork in the books “All Yesterdays” and the artwork of Natee Himmapaan, who is probably my favorite contemporary paleoartist. Although the coloring is mostly a riff on the green iguana. 

BB: And now, my favorite question always: What couldn’t you include? Was there information you loved but had to cut out for one reason or another?

SR: I really wanted to include a spread including Jurassic Park action figures, but we had to cut something and I agreed that was the one to go. Those toys were a huge part of my childhood, and they really defined what dinosaurs looked like for a generation, But we needed to prioritize visuals that hadn’t already saturated popular culture. A smaller version of the drawing came back in the endnotes, though. 

BB: Finally, what are you working on next? What’s on your plate?

SR: I’m still in the middle of illustrating COPY CAT, a middle grade graphic novel I co-wrote with Elyse Martin. That’s about a 12-year-old girl who is hiding out in a monastery in Northumbria during the 9th century, and pretending to be a scribe. I also have another Bolivar book in the works–a holiday title. You’ll be relieved to know no one makes Bolivar eat pizza this time; however, there is a lot of Italian food! 

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Huge thanks to Sean for answering my questions (though now I’m going to have to deal with wanting to see even MORE of his books in the future!).

And here it is, the one, the only . . . the cover reveal!

Ain’t she a beauty?

The Iguanodon’s Horn is on bookstore and library shelves everywhere March 19, 2024. Be patient, my dears. It’s just around the corner.

Filed under: Best Books, Best Books of 2024, Cover Reveal, Interviews