The loosely brushed illustrations aren’t as luridly detailed as they might be, but fans of all things gross and gruesome will still be drawn to this gallery of extinct gourmands. Though most—from Oviraptor, seen crunching a “fat, crispy beetle snatched from the top of dinosaur poop,” to Tyrannosaurus Rex chowing down on a bleeding, well-masticated mouthful—are carnivores, vegetarians too are represented, with the likes of Iguanodon: “We browse slowly and quietly, munching as we move. Then comes the noisy part—the more we eat, the more we fart!” The authors add side columns of dino-facts and small black-and-white drawings to each spread, but education definitely takes a back seat to titillation here. Cheap thrills: Buy accordingly. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: July 15, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2089-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2007
The utterly winsome Sammy (and his crabby, TV-narcotized sister) is featured in a fine little story from Whybrow (The Snow King, p. 806, etc.) about the pleasures of friends who happen to be of a different species. Up in the attic with his grandmother, Sammy comes across a box full of old dinosaur toys. He shuttles the box downstairs, doctors the dinosaurs that need doctoring, bathes and buffs them all, and then, next day, trundles to the library to discover their names. While this is going on, captured in handsome pen-and-wash artwork, the beasts shuffle about, but only to Sammy’s knowledge. When every one of them is properly bestowed with a name—anchisaurus, brontosaurus, scelidosaurus, etc.—the dinosaurs say, ‘’ ‘Thank you, Sammy.’ They said it very quietly, but just loud enough for Sammy to hear.” Now fast friends, they nonetheless become separated when Sammy inadvertently leaves them on the train. Sammy is deeply unhappy; he inquires after them at the station, but the “Lost and Found” man says, “How do we know they are your dinosaurs?” A blind-identification test confirms that fact: ‘’ ‘All correct!’ said the man. ‘These are definitely your dinosaurs! Definitely!’ ‘’ Quietly, the dinosaurs concur: ‘’ ‘You’re definitely our Sammy. Definitely!’ ‘’ This is a beautiful, cheering story full of offbeat charm. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-531-30207-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1999
Washburn’s illustrations take a nonthreatening to the subject, casting the rosy-toned dinosaurs as friendly rather than...
A highly accessible entry in the Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science series that takes a look at baby dinosaurs, primarily maiasaurs and oviraptors.
Zoehfeld (How Mountains are Made, 1995, etc.) explains how the current information on the peaceful, lizard-like dinosaurs who sipped from streams over 70 million years ago has been extrapolated from fossils, and that the rest is surmised from studying reptile and bird behavior and habits, which provide scientists with clues as to the nesting, nurturing of, and lives of baby dinosaurs. Hatching from small, oval eggs, the newborns ate berries while one member guarded the nest from meat-eating, nest-raiding predators. The author speculates as to the role of fossilized plants that covered the eggs of the maiasaurs and what the discovery of oviraptor skeletons may reveal about the feeding of the young.
Washburn’s illustrations take a nonthreatening to the subject, casting the rosy-toned dinosaurs as friendly rather than imposing. (Picture book/nonfiction. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 1999
ISBN: 0-06-027141-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1999
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