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THE HUMONGOUS BOOK OF DINOSAURS

Name: THE HUMONGOUS BOOK OF DINOSAURS
Author: David Norman
ISBN: 1-55670-596-4

edited by David Norman ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 20, 1997

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The ``Millions of factoids!'' in this compendium on dinosaurs may confirm once and for all that bigger is not necessarily better. The information—followed by six pages of picture credits, but without text credits or authors listed—is not arranged in alphabetical, geographic, chronological, or any other determinable order. Instead, sections repeat every 18 pages or so: ``Identikit,'' which offers general profiles of dinosaurs accompanied by full-color scale drawings and occasional photos; ``Dinosaur World,'' which answers broad questions, e.g., ``Why did dinosaurs die out?''; ``Spotter's Guide,'' which offers details about claws, brains, etc.; ``History in Pictures,'' which cover in comic-strip fashion key moments in scientific discovery; ``3-D Gallery,'' which are scenes to be viewed with the special glasses provided; and more. Without a table of contents or index, browsers or researchers will have trouble locating specific information; regardless, the facts are occasionally inconsistent and confusing: On one page, the allosaurus has on ``each hand and foot . . . three strong claws to grip its victims,'' and on another page, it is announced as ``The Four-Toed Terror.'' The pages are packed with full-color inserts, boxes, drawings, photos, and lurid paragraphs of text, with lots of gouging, ripping chunks of flesh, savage blows, razor-sharp teeth, and dagger-like clawed feet. Dinosaur lovers beware—this is humongous bunkum. (Nonfiction. 8-10)

Pub Date: May 20, 1997

ISBN: 1-55670-596-4

Page Count: 1256

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1997

Categories:

CHILDREN'S DINOSAURS & PREHISTORIC CREATURES

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HOW TO TAME A TRICERATOPS

From the Dino Riders series , Vol. 1

by Will Dare ; illustrated by Will Dare ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 4, 2017

Adventures and misadventures, Old West style—but with dinos.

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Young Josh needs to up his ride if he’s going to win the Trihorn settlement’s 100th-anniversary Founders’ Day race and meet his hero, Terrordactyl Bill.

Set on the Lost Plains, where ranchers tend to herds of iguanodons, and horses (if there were any) would be easy pickings for the local predators, this series kickoff pits a brash lad and sidekick and schoolmates Sam and Abi against not only the requisite bully, but such fiercer adversaries as attacking pterodactyls. Josh’s first challenge after eagerly entering the race is finding a faster, nimbler steed than his steady but old gallimimus, Plodder. Along comes Charge—an aptly named, if not-quite-fully-trained triceratops with speed, brains, and, it turns out, a streak of loyalty that saves Josh’s bacon both here and in a simultaneously publishing sequel, How To Rope a Giganotosaurus, which prominently features T. Rex’s much larger cousin. Dare adds a map, as well as spot illustrations of rural Western types (Josh and Abi are white, Sam has dark skin and tightly curled hair) astride toothy, brightly patterned dinos. In both adventures Josh weathers regular encounters with dinosaur dung, snot, and gas as well as threats to life and limb to show up the aforementioned bully and emerge a hero.

Adventures and misadventures, Old West style—but with dinos. (Fantasy. 8-10)

Pub Date: April 4, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-4926-4668-6

Page Count: 128

Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION | CHILDREN'S DINOSAURS & PREHISTORIC CREATURES

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GIGANTIC!

HOW BIG WERE THE DINOSAURS?

by Patrick O’Brien ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1999

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O’Brien celebrates 14 prehistoric monsters by presenting each with a modern object or a human, thereby giving readers information about the size of these giants. Dinosaurs, in full-color and full-snarl, dominate the double-page layouts as they frolic and menace an airplane, fire truck, tank, automobile, and assorted people. For every creature, O’Brien provides the name, its meaning, and a brief line of text. Three of the creatures presented are not dinosaurs at all—Quetzalcoatlus, a pterosaur, Phobosuchus, a relative of the crocodiles, and Dinichthys, a bony fish—which the author mentions in the back matter. The illustrations are not drawn to scale, e.g., if Spinosaurus is really 49 feet long, as the text indicates, the car it is shown next to would appear to be 30 feet long. Readers may have to puzzle over a few scenes, but will enjoy browsing through this book, from the dramatic eyeball view of a toothy Tyrannosaurus rex on the cover to the final head-on glare from a Triceratops. (Picture book/nonfiction. 5-9)