The poetry and prose form more of an uneasy détente than an integrated whole, but the comical pictures and the wordplay in...
“Trilobites the Dust,” and so do the rest of a cast of extinct creatures in this sequel (prequel?) to Last Laughs: Animal Epitaphs (2012).
In chronological order from the Paleozoic to the Cenozoic eras, dinosaurs, prehistoric reptiles, and early mammals offer memento mori in pithy verse. “Iguanodon, Alas Long Gone,” for example runs: “Iguano dawned, / Iguano dined, / Iguano done, / Iguano gone.” With similar brevity, “Plesiosaur Sticks His Neck Out” of Loch Ness and has it chopped through by a Pict (a footnote admits the anachronism), and unknown agents leave “Pterrible Pterosaur Pterminated.” In later times, a saber-toothed cat (“Tiger, tiger, hunting bright / near the tar pits, late at night”), a dire wolf, and a woolly mammoth are all depicted trapped in the gooey muck. Each poem comes with an explanatory note, and a prose afterword titled “A Little About Layers” discusses how the fossil record works. Timmins reflects this secondary informational agenda in his illustrations without taking it too seriously—providing a spade-bearded, popeyed paleontologist who resembles a spud in shape and color to usher readers through galleries of fossil remnants or fleshed-out specimens meeting their ends with shocked expressions.
The poetry and prose form more of an uneasy détente than an integrated whole, but the comical pictures and the wordplay in these dino demises provide sufficient lift. (Picture book/poetry. 7-10)Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-58089-706-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
A manic but solid series kickoff.
A cartoon history of dinosaurs and contemporary creatures, largely hand lettered and (mostly, anyway) colored inside the lines.
Moot the titular hyperbole may be, but it does capture the tone as Lowery sandwiches a populous parade of very simply drawn dinos between a history of prehistory and a roundup of diverse topics, from what paleontologists do to sets of dinosaur jokes and “A Few Kinda Weird (and Unlikely!) Dino Extinction Theories.” Jokes and gags (“Why did the Archaeopteryx get the worm?” “Because it was an early bird!”) are scattered throughout along with side remarks (“Not another mass extinction!”), as are identifying labels with phonetic pronunciations (Gorgonopsia: “GOR-ga-NOP-see-a”) and cogent if dude!-ish observations: “These small weirdos…had one long claw-thing for catching stuff to eat”; “More time passed between Stegosaurus and T. Rex than the time between Velociraptor and microwavable pizza!” Better yet, though true dinosaurs hold the spotlight, flying and marine reptiles, early mammals, and other fabulous early fauna take such frequent star turns that along with infobites galore, readers will come away with a fairly sound understanding of just how dinosaurs fit into the whole history of life on this planet. Human figures of diverse hue occasionally step into view to offer comments or wisecracks.
A manic but solid series kickoff. (bibliography, drawing lessons) (Nonfiction. 7-10)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-35972-5
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
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It’s got a few quirky bits, but it’s lackluster overall.
Pop-up dinosaurs, both fossilized and fully fleshed out, join Mesozoic contemporaries in a series of museum displays.
The single-topic spreads are up-to-date but designed to evoke the dusty atmosphere of old-style dinosaur halls (emphasizing this conceit, some are even labeled “Rooms”). They combine cramped blocks of information in smallish type with images of beasts and bones done in a style that resembles the faded naturalism of early-20th-century museum murals—or, in the “Fossil Room,” a desktop covered in paleontological notes with paper clips and coffee stains. Occasional inset spinners and attached booklets supply additional dino details. A tab-activated flipbook attempts to demonstrate tectonic drift, but readers have to go fairly slowly to assimilate it all, which blunts the effect. Amid pale silhouettes representing modern museum visitors, the prehistoric creatures, nearly all of which are small and drably colored, rear up individually or parade along in sedate, motley groups until a closing display and mention of genetic engineering promise a possible future with pet velociraptors.
It’s got a few quirky bits, but it’s lackluster overall. (Informational pop-up picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9687-0
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017
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