Enticing fare for fans of all things Paleo.
Up-close introductions to seven Paleozoic monsters, with some outsized modern survivors added for good measure.
Writing with crowd-pleasing vivacity—Arthropleura “was bigger than a basketball player. And with up to 80 quick-moving, grasping legs, it could have easily gripped and smothered one too!”—Becker profiles a set of humongous arthropods that, in Bindon’s exactly detailed scenes, crawl, slither, glide, swim, or fly past with all-too-convincing realism. All come with (fossil) range maps and human silhouettes for size comparisons, and most are placed in natural settings, with other fauna of the period visible in the backgrounds. In her descriptive notes, the author maintains a proper caution, following current thinking in suggesting that heightened levels of atmospheric oxygen made such uncommon mass possible but noting that “fave snacks,” life cycles, and causes of extinction are speculations. Following the prehistoric parade, a select set of today’s biggest creepy-crawlies bring up the rear, capped by a menacing science-fictional megabug that looks like an ant-scorpion hybrid. Though no replacement for Timothy Bradley’s (sadly out of print) Paleo Bugs (2008) for those lucky enough still to have it, the art here has more of a dramatic flair, and the resource lists at the end are fresher.
Enticing fare for fans of all things Paleo. (glossary, timeline, index) (Informational picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-77138-811-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
The sense of wonder that infuses each simply worded chapter is contagious, and some of the photos are soooo cuuuuute.
The author of an adult book about uncommon animal attachments invites emergent readers to share the warm (Unlikely Friendships, 2011).
This is the first of four spinoffs, all rewritten and enhanced with fetching color photographs of the subject. It pairs a very young rhesus monkey with a dove, one cat with a zoo bear and another that became a “seeing-eye cat” for a blind dog (!), an old performing elephant with a stray dog and a lion in the Kenyan wild with a baby oryx. Refreshingly, the author, a science writer, refrains from offering facile analyses of the relationships’ causes or homiletic commentary. Instead, she explains how each companionship began, what is surprising about it and also how some ended, from natural causes or otherwise. There is a regrettable number of exclamation points, but they are in keeping with the overall enthusiastic tone.
The sense of wonder that infuses each simply worded chapter is contagious, and some of the photos are soooo cuuuuute. (animal and word lists) (Nonfiction. 7-9)Pub Date: May 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7611-7011-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2012
Resplendent.
In glittering, chitinous splendor, 59 insects, from an elegantly dappled Mexican dobsonfly to an 8-inch Macleay’s spectre pose for close-ups in this eye-widening photo gallery.
Arranged in no particular order and enlarged to roughly the same size, the cast of beetles, bugs, ants, mantids and caterpillars all seems to be sitting directly on the plain white pages, with pale shadows added and the occasional twig or bud for a prop. Nearly all not only bear vividly colored patterns or coats of shimmering armor, but display as astonishing an array of exotic forms as ever was—these bugs are decked out with baroque spikes, palps, antennae and other features. Worek supplies common and scientific labels for all this eye candy, as well as enough information on each subject’s size, diet, geographical range and life cycle to please even larval entomologists.
Resplendent. (index) (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-77085-235-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Firefly
Review Posted Online: Oct. 22, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2013
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
