Dinosaur Dreams: A Father and Daughter in Search of America’s Prehistoric Past

In the summer of 2023, one of the hottest on record, B.J. Hollars and his nine-year-old daughter Ellie embarked on a two-thousand-mile road trip to complete the Montana Dinosaur Trail, a fourteen-stop trail consisting of museums, state parks, and dinosaur dig sites throughout a state known for its Mesozoic-era fossil record. Throughout their two-week journey, they dig fossils, learn from amateur and professional paleontologists, and forge a bond even stronger than the dinosaurs they love.

Join B.J. and Ellie on a road trip that spans not just miles but millennia. With every stop, they deepen their understanding of dinosaurs, extinction, and what the fossil record might teach us about how best to preserve our planetary home. Together, father and daughter strive to answer the vital question of our age: Can we humans evolve fast enough to ensure our own survival?

Charming, thought-provoking, and full of discovery, Dinosaur Dreams is a time-traveling adventure that reminds us of what truly matters: the bonds we forge, the world we inherit, and the future we fight to protect.

B.J. Hollars is a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He is the author or editor of more than fifteen books, including Go West, Young Man: A Father and Son Rediscover America on the Oregon Trail (Bison, 2021) and Midwestern Strange: Hunting Monsters, Martians and the Weird in Flyover Country (Nebraska, 2019).