Will be devoured by dinosaur lovers everywhere.
An album of images and stories of a wide array of dinosaurs who flourished in the Mesozoic era.
Spread by spread, with astonishing pictures and engaging words, this presentation introduces dozens of different dinosaurs, first saurischians and then ornithischians. Artist Zhao collaborated with paleontologists around the world to base his striking paintings on recent research. Some are three-dimensional portraits; others, which appear more like museum dioramas, place his subjects in an environmental context. Set on these full-bleed images are the dinosaur’s name and a tagline; a paragraph or two of text; a fact box with size, diet, period of existence, and where their fossils have been found; their size in relation to a bus; and, often, a time scale to show when the pictured dinosaur probably lived. Yang’s descriptions relate interesting facts about each dinosaur’s appearance, lifestyle, or discovery by scientists and often imagine it as engaged in action. Some descriptions even ascribe emotions or feelings to the dinosaurs. This is intentional; in her preface, the author indicates that she hopes to help her readers go beyond mere facts in order to nurture their senses of wonder about the natural world.
Will be devoured by dinosaur lovers everywhere. (index, endnotes, list of scientific art projects) (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: April 27, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-61254-515-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Brown Books Kids
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
Aimed directly at confirmed young dino-fans, this pleasantly specific overview covers not only the dinosaurs' distinctive physical characteristics (the authors include modern birds in the group) but the work of paleontologists in both field and lab, the types and typical life cycles of what are carefully dubbed “non-avian” dinos within each “clade,” the mass extinction of 65,000,000 years ago (properly noted as likely due to several causes, not just an asteroid impact) and how new discoveries have refined theories about wings and feathers. Extended onto several single and double gatefolds, the art mixes small color photos with soft-edged paint-and-pencil reconstructions of bones, individual live portraits and prehistoric herds in natural settings. New York’s American Museum of Natural History gets several plugs in the main narrative and the closing, multimedia resource list (two of the authors are employees), but that won’t limit the audience for this above-average series entry. (glossary, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4027-7074-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
Both casual and confirmed fans will devour this delicious blend of fact and foolery with relish.
More standup-style paleontology to follow When Fish Got Feet, Sharks Got Teeth, and Bugs Began to Swarm (2007).
Here Bonner chronicles developments in the Triassic Period, during which life got a fresh lease on the planet in the wake of the massive Permian extinction. She tracks an explosion of biological diversity as the oceans were repopulated, lush forests grew and the dominant kinds of land animals went from clumsy-looking therapsids to sleek archosaurian dinosaurs and proto-crocodiles. Early mammals are already waiting in the wings, and a swelling chorus of insects (“We eat pollen, we drink sap, / We do the hungry insect rap”) make up a “bug buffet.” In the deep, toothy sharks, ichthyosaurs and other predators put in appearances—hovering, in the illustration, over a tempting platter of neatly arranged fish, clams and cephalopods. The author neatly dishes up a multi-course feast of polysyllabic monikers and tasty tidbits of data (“Later British mammals drank tea and ate scones, but these mouse-size [Morganucodon] ate bugs instead”) to go with her cartoon menagerie. The book closes with a serpentine timeline of prehistory (featuring appropriately placed plugs for each of the previous books in the series) and both adult- and child-level leads to further resources.
Both casual and confirmed fans will devour this delicious blend of fact and foolery with relish. (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: April 10, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4263-0862-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: National Geographic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 28, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2012
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