Eye-brightening visuals in search of a better text.
A mishmash of prehistoric fact and fancy, well overmatched by illustrations featuring images of full-sized dinos that look just as real as the photographed children who pose around or on them.
With a similar premise to Bernard Most’s classic If the Dinosaurs Came Back (1978) but without even its loose brand of internal logic, the author introduces 26 dinosaurs by name and suggests a supposed occupation or consequence. These often appear to be entirely arbitrary: “If a Tarbosaurus lived in my town… / …he and his cousin, Tyrannosaurus Rex, could have a hamburger eating contest!” In frequently clumsy phrasing (Corythosaurus “had hundreds of little teeth inside of her cheeks to chew with”), added dinosaur “Factprints” on each spread offer mixes of “facts” that sometimes contradict fossil evidence, as with a claim that Liopleurodon was larger than the blue whale. Others are just pure speculation: Maiasaura “would be very gentle with tiny human children” and Parasaurolophus calls “sounded like notes played on a French horn, or even a deep-throated trombone or bassoon.” On the other hand, though many bear human expressions, Eggleton’s dinosaurs are both realistically detailed and convincingly integrated into playgrounds and other familiar modern settings. The most recent reference in the bibliography is dated 2006, and one is as old as 1988.
Eye-brightening visuals in search of a better text. (index, not seen) (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-62636-176-8
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2013
Chewy fare for fans of polysyllabic monikers but not a top-shelf prospect in the struggle to survive.
A chatty lungfish leads a quick tour of life’s evolution, from Earth’s formation to the appearance of early mammals in the Triassic Period.
“Hi. My name is Ackerley. I’m an Acanthostega.” Following introductions and quick peeks at fossilization and continental drift, the colorfully mottled narrator highlights or at least mentions around a dozen extinct creatures. These range from millipedes “the size of crocodiles” and Opabinia—“If there were a prize for The Weirdest Creature That Ever Lived, Opabinia would be a hot favorite”— to the shrewlike Megazostrodon. Though rendered in close, sharp relief, usually with mouths threateningly open (at least for those animals with visible mouths), Minister’s page-filling, digitally modeled figures often sport a shiny, plastic look. The artificiality extends to an obtrusive absence of blood and gore despite attacks and toothy chomping aplenty here and also in the co-published Dinosaurs Rule. Moreover, both volumes share substantial passages of boilerplate and mention animals that have no corresponding portraits. The closing recaps and indexes are likewise incomplete.
Chewy fare for fans of polysyllabic monikers but not a top-shelf prospect in the struggle to survive. (Nonfiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4677-6348-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Hungry Tomato/Lerner
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Adventures in dinosaur husbandry—a bit bland but palatable fare for younger independent readers.
In this series kickoff for dinophiles (and who isn’t one?), a Wyoming dig yields an egg that’s not exactly fossilized.
Despite having to cope with obnoxious cousin Samantha and snoopy Aaron from the adjacent cattle ranch, 9-year-old Frank is thrilled to be summering with his grandparents at their dinosaur museum and dig site. Life takes a particularly exciting turn when his paleontologist grandmother finds a stone egg on ranch land. It not only becomes a bone of contention between her and Aaron’s avaricious dad, but hatches in the night, leaving Frank and Sam scrambling to keep little “Peanut”—depicted in the frequent ink-and-wash illustrations as a puppylike hadrosaur with soulful eyes and a stubby tail—secret from the grown-ups. Ultimately, though, the creature must be driven to the vet after chowing down on snack food, and while the adults are gone on that errand, the children work out a way to share ownership. McAnulty keeps characters and situations uncomplicated, and if self-absorbed Samantha comes off as more of a liability than an asset here, perhaps she’ll have a chance to redeem herself in future episodes.
Adventures in dinosaur husbandry—a bit bland but palatable fare for younger independent readers. (glossary) (Science fantasy. 7-9)Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-553-52191-7
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2015
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