Zoehfeld takes a crack at the titular question for budding scientists. She traces the debate from 1860 to the present, describing a variety of evolving birdlike creatures, from Archaeopteryx, “ancient wing,” discovered in 1860 to recent discoveries from the 1990s, like Sinosauropteryx. She describes theropod dinosaurs with hollow bones and wishbones, three-toed feet with claws, and feathers, features of modern birds. She notes that creatures were unlike modern birds in that some had only a ridge of feathers, a fuzzy down rather than flight feathers, long bony tails, or wings with claws and teeth. Soft pastel drawings show fuzzy and feathered proto-bird as they might have existed 125-145 million years ago. She provides a dinosaur timeline, and concludes, “The descendants of the feathered dinosaurs still soar through our skies every day.” Young dinosaur enthusiasts will love this fascinating information. (activity pages) (Nonfiction. 5-9)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-06-029026-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2004
“She’s huge like a tank. She is covered in armor. Bony plates join together under her skin. Stubby spikes grow all over her body.” In this companion to I Am a Tyrannosaurus (2004), Wallace uses similarly melodramatic language but takes a vegetarian’s point of view, following a low-slung dino as she lays eggs and defends them from a predatory troodon, then rumbles off destructively into the woods to chow down until hatching time. Bostock’s dappled orange and green watercolors give the prehistoric setting a hot, sunny look; he mutes his creatures’ skin tones and downplays the tale’s violence to the point where even a tyrannosaur’s attack leaves only barely visible claw marks on the knobby protagonist. Still, young fans of all things toothy, scaly and extinct will roar with interest at this brief episode. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-689-87318-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2005
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Dinosaur artist Sibbick presents 29 of his favorite dinosaurs with full-color double-paged paintings that pitch the viewer into the midst of action-filled dinosaur landscapes. These dinosaurs can lumber right off the page, snarling. Meticulous detail to plants, landscapes and the dinosaurs will have young viewers entranced. While the images are fully realized and satisfying, the brief text is often an irritation, as boxes of text are pasted on top of the paintings, distracting the viewer. After all, the paintings tell the story. For the reader who needs help interpreting the images, the Dino fun facts, which serve as an index and provide the dinosaur name, size, location and geological periods, could have been expanded. Purchase for young dinosaur lovers, who may pore over paintings looking for their favorites. (Nonfiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-689-03921-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Milk & Cookies Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2005
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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