Author Jo Earlam spent a day at Kennaway House with copies of her book 'Rosa's Footprint' and a display of our era's humans' carbon footprint information.
'Rosa's Footprint' is a fully illustrated children's story, with a message of environmental awareness, inspired by a real trace fossil footprint left 240-million-years-ago by a pre-dinosaur reptile, called a rauisuchian, a crocodile like carnivore that could grow to five metres in length. Watch the related video here.
The footprint was found on the beach at Sidmouth, part of the Jurassic Coast, by a palaeontologist from Bristol University, Dr Robert Coram. He identified it as the first of its kind found in the area and donated it to Sidmouth Museum. Children's author Jo Earlam, working with illustrator Mark Hannon, has used the footprint to ask those who read the story to think about their own footprint. The book is part of a community engagement project Think Footprint www.thinkfootprint.org 'Rosa's Footprint', published by Turtletastic Titles, is available to order through bookshops, ISBN 9781916046115, and on Amazon.
Sidmouth Herald is also running an art competition with Jo's book as prize.