LAND OF THE THUNDERING HERDS

The author of Hunt For the Last Cat (1991) returns to prehistoric North America to follow now-vanished wildlife on its long migratory cycle across the Great Plains. Huge condor Teratorn and mammoth matriarch Mamoot are the main figures here; Teratorn hovers over the prairie, ever vigilant for small prey or fresh kills, while Mamoot leads her family group, generally immune to predators but susceptible to drought, accident, and overgrazing. Despite the proper names, Denzel's great beasts aren't anthropomorphic; they act out the old story of birth, growth, and death (usually violent and gory) in characteristic natural ways. Humans appear, late in the book, as a new but not particularly efficient predator. Vivid descriptive passages establish a strong sense of place and time, but the author doesn't develop a sustained plotline, and Watkinson's pencil drawings are static and undramatic. Steer readers to nonfiction for information, and to Denzel's previous books for paleo-adventure stories. (Fiction. 11- 13)