A little technical for very first encounters, but both the content and the interactive presentation will absorb younger fans...
Cartoon portraits of ancient creatures and the modern scientists who study them illustrate a lift-the-flap dino Q-and-A.
Printed on sturdy stock and grouped into general topics (“On the Move: Let’s see how dinosaurs moved.”), the questions scattered across each page range from general queries such as “Could dinosaurs swim?” (no: contemporary sea creatures were marine reptiles and not dinosaurs) to anatomical and behavioral specifics: “Why did plant-eaters swallow rocks?” “Was T. rex a scavenger or a hunter?” “What does a fossil footprint tell us?” Most, though not all, of the answers are concealed beneath hinged rectangular flaps of diverse size and, aside from a few bobbles, such as defining “prehistoric” as “before humans,” offer generally accurate information. Lozano alternates simplified but recognizable figures of dinosaurs and their contemporaries in prehistoric settings with views of two young investigators—one white, one brown—in a museum or working at a dig or in a lab. These two also appear, though more briefly, in the co-published Life on Earth: Jungle, which presents an array of general facts about select jungle animals and products.
A little technical for very first encounters, but both the content and the interactive presentation will absorb younger fans of dinosaurs or natural science in general. (Informational novelty. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-84780-904-9
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Wide Eyed Editions
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017
Fine fare for younger dinosaur lovers, particularly those of a hands-on sort.
A set of pop-up prehistoric specimens to assemble and insert in a museum exhibit.
Two young tour guides, “Mary” (after Mary Anning) and “Barnum” (after Barnum Brown), squire readers through a soon-to-open dinosaur hall. There they point out slots where each of the five pop-up models—of Stegosaurus, Liopleurodon, Pteranodon, and Triceratops as well as T. Rex skulls—can be (gluelessly) attached and add side comments to the already-placed explanatory and descriptive labels. Neatly hidden beneath a large front flap along with printed assembly diagrams that make matching the various slots and tabs relatively easy, the large punch-out pieces turn into simplified but reasonably realistic models. Smaller specimens of dino poop, a fossilized egg, and other enhancements also have waiting slots in side cases. The pop-ups aren’t the whole show, either, as the parts of the exhibit already in place in the background illustrations and narrative boxes offer a basic but solid picture of dinosaurian types, features, and habits. Mary presents black, and Barnum presents white.
Fine fare for younger dinosaur lovers, particularly those of a hands-on sort. (Informational novelty. 5-7)Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-78868-128-5
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Lonely Planet
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
Meat and potatoes—er, more meat for hatchling dinosaur fans, with unusually eye-catching art.
An invitation to meet a prehistoric predator and follow it from egg to exhibit.
Sounding like a slightly more articulate version of Guardians of the Galaxy’s Groot (“I am Allosaurus. I can run”), a theropod narrator hatches and survives. It avoids being eaten by larger toothy prowlers while chowing down on a dragonfly (when small) and a stegosaur (when fully grown), then passes in an abrupt page turn from Jurassic landscapes to a museum setting, towering as a fossil skeleton over human silhouettes with a final “I am Allosaurus. I am extinct.” The extreme terseness of the text and patterned repetition makes this an ideal choice for dinosaur lovers just stretching their own independent-reading legs. Along with depicting his dino with an arresting pattern of deep black stripes on a bright pink body, with vivid blue rings around its eyes, Bradley follows a current train of paleontological thought by adding a ruff of hairy feathers that vanishes as the animal matures. Dramatic shifts in perspective neatly capture scale as the reptile grows. Bradley also carefully keeps other flora and fauna in his painted scenes true to period and closes with notes on his subject’s anatomy, a map showing where Allosaurus remains have been found, and related information.
Meat and potatoes—er, more meat for hatchling dinosaur fans, with unusually eye-catching art. (bibliography) (Informational picture book/early reader. 5-7)Pub Date: March 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64351-749-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Arbordale Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2019
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