What’s bigger than Elasmosaurus, has more teeth than Smilodon, and is fiercer than T-rex? It must be Megalodon, the giant ancestor of the great white shark that roamed the ancient seas 50 million years ago eating whales. O’Brien, author of Gigantic: How Big Were the Dinosaurs? (1999) is back with another toothy monster to delight young dinosaur fans. Beginning simply and dramatically, showing one giant creature after another, O’Brien builds to his subject, which comes crashing out of the water and onto a two-paged spread featuring his bloody mouth. Then continuing in this engaging style, he gives Megalodon plenty of room to show off as he looms and threatens and shows plenty of his enormous teeth. In fact, the author notes that the only evidence of Megalodon scientists have discovered to date is a few vertebrae and some large fossilized teeth. Using the size of the teeth of the great white shark as a comparison, some scientists predict the ancient shark was 50 feet long. O’Brien’s double-paged spreads give ample room to compare this monster to more familiar large beasts: a great white shark or Tyrannosaurus rex. In one telling shot, the jaw of the Megalodon surrounds the standing figure of a man, dressed in a snorkel and pink inner tube. It is this simple approach, laden with enormous kid appeal that will make this sail off the shelves. The author may inspire a whole new generation of treasure hunters as he notes in an afterword that giant fossil teeth have been found all over the world, but “the best place to find them is the eastern United States.” For younger readers than Caroline Arnold’s Giant Shark: Megalodon, Prehistoric Super Predator (2000). (timeline, tooth facts) (Picture book/nonfiction. 5-8)
Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-8050-6214-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note.
Little Honey Bunny Funnybunny loves baseball almost as much as she loves her big brother P.J.—though it’s a close-run thing.
Readers familiar with the pranks P.J. plays on his younger sibling in older episodes of the series (most illustrated by Roger Bollen) will be amused—and perhaps a little confused—to see him in the role of perfect big brother after meeting his swaddled little sister for the first time in mama’s lap. But here, along with being a constant companion and “always happy to see her,” he cements his heroic status in her eyes by hitting a home run for his baseball team and then patiently teaching her how to play T-ball. After carefully coaching her and leading her through warm-up exercises, he even sits in the stands, loudly cheering her on as she scores the winning run in her own very first game. “‘You are the best brother a bunny could ever have!’” she burbles. This tale’s a tad blander compared with others centered on P.J. and his sister, but it’s undeniably cheery, with text well structured for burgeoning readers. The all-smiles animal cast in Bowers’ cartoon art features a large and diversely hued family of bunnies sporting immense floppy ears as well as a multispecies crowd of furry onlookers equally varied of color, with one spectator in a wheelchair.
A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note. (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9798217032464
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Rylant (Henry and Mudge and the Sneaky Crackers, 1998, etc.) slips into a sentimental mode for this latest outing of the boy and his dog, as she sends Mudge and Henry and his parents off on a camping trip. Each character is attended to, each personality sketched in a few brief words: Henry's mother is the camping veteran with outdoor savvy; Henry's father doesn't know a tent stake from a marshmallow fork, but he's got a guitar for campfire entertainment; and the principals are their usual ready-for-fun selves. There are sappy moments, e.g., after an evening of star- gazing, Rylant sends the family off to bed with: ``Everyone slept safe and sound and there were no bears, no scares. Just the clean smell of trees . . . and wonderful green dreams.'' With its nice tempo, the story is as toasty as its campfire and swaddled in Stevenson's trusty artwork. (Fiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-689-81175-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1998
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