It feels like See Jane Dig! already made the news this summer. That can’t be, of course, since its release date with Midwestern Books is October 1, 2024.

However, when I saw a link on Facebook about 3 boys who discovered a T-Rex fossil, Yogi Berra’s famous line, “it’s deja vu all over again,” immediately came to mind. Here’s why:

• The person who posted the link is one of my former country school students…and See Jane Dig! is all about country school. Thank you Shelly!
• Also, my former student is a shirt-tail relative to one of the boys in the story.
• The fossil was found near Marmarth, North Dakota, as in the Marmarth Road that goes north out of fictional Little Missouri to guess where? Marmarth, North Dakota.
• While researching See Jane Dig! in 2022, Hiram and I went on a paleo site tour with the geologist from Pioneer Trails Regional Museum located in Bowman, North Dakota. Guess where the geologist took us for our mini dig? Just outside Marmarth, North Dakota. You can read more about our paleo tour here.
• The Denver Post article about the boys’ find features several photographs of the area where the T-Rex was found. Those pictures aren’t all that different from the one above, which I took during our paleo tour.
• See Jane Dig! has several scenes in pastures where dinosaur bones are sticking out of the ground, just like in the news story.

First of all, the geologist, Hiram, and I might have walked right past that bone sticking out of the ground.
Second of all, it’s a good thing See Jane Dig! hasn’t been released yet or I might think those little boys plagiarized my book!
Third of all, do you see what I mean about deja vu? No wonder it feels like See Jane Dig! already made the news this summer.