Zoehfeld takes a crack at the titular question for budding scientists. She traces the debate from 1860 to the present, describing a variety of evolving birdlike creatures, from Archaeopteryx, “ancient wing,” discovered in 1860 to recent discoveries from the 1990s, like Sinosauropteryx. She describes theropod dinosaurs with hollow bones and wishbones, three-toed feet with claws, and feathers, features of modern birds. She notes that creatures were unlike modern birds in that some had only a ridge of feathers, a fuzzy down rather than flight feathers, long bony tails, or wings with claws and teeth. Soft pastel drawings show fuzzy and feathered proto-bird as they might have existed 125-145 million years ago. She provides a dinosaur timeline, and concludes, “The descendants of the feathered dinosaurs still soar through our skies every day.” Young dinosaur enthusiasts will love this fascinating information. (activity pages) (Nonfiction. 5-9)
