ROBERT CROWTHER'S POP-UP DINOSAUR ABC

Twenty-six dinos rear up, unfold or slide into view in a pop-up prehistoric procession.

Hidden behind flaps or connected to pull tabs, the models—placed individually in rows of, usually, three per page against plain white backgrounds—come off as rather small but are recognizable, brightly colored, and posed in a variety of stances or actions. The paper design is likewise varied, so that figures stand up, come together or move unpredictably as they appear. Each is paired to a short note on the dinosaur’s name, discovery, or some physical feature, a guide to pronunciation, and a vivid comparison with familiar modern animals or items: “Quetzalcoatlus was as tall as a giraffe and had the wingspan of a small airplane”; “Tyrannosaurus…could eat an animal as big as a lion in one bite.” Though the alphabetically arranged pop-ups are not to scale and represent dinosaurs from different periods, Crowther provides both a chronological index and a size chart at the end. An errant view of a carnivorous Guanlong chowing down on plants is the only obvious stumble in this Mesozoic march.

From Allosaurus to Zuniceratops, a mix of familiar standbys and new or rare finds with bite-sized facts for confirmed dinomanes.