GIANT DINOSAURS OF THE JURASSIC

The author/illustrator of Feathered Dinosaurs of China (p. 43) looks closer to home, taking young dinophiles back 150 million years and focusing on species discovered in the Rocky Mountains’ Morrison Formation. Considering the lurid choices available to dinosaur fans these days, it’s a rather staid tour; he begins close to ground level with glimpses of frogs, cat-sized herbivores called Othniela, and five-foot-long turtles, then proceeds in stages to 30-ton Apatosaurus, toothy Allosaurus, and finally a humongous, 110-foot-long Diplodocus. Each appears in a similarly angled, middle-distance view, either as part of a detailed scene or as a paler vignette without background vegetation. The text reads like museum commentary—“A group of sauropods, called Camarasaurus, dines on tall bushes and trees in the nearby araucaria wood”—with violent events occasionally described, but not depicted. Most of the extinct critters here are shown posing rather than in action, and, aside from a Stegosaur’s vivid purple and green, the colors are subdued. Readers who just can’t get enough on the topic will snap this up, but it’s one of the banquet’s blander courses. (Picture book/nonfiction. 8-10)