DANGER IN THE DESERT

“True” in a broad sense at least, this profile of the distinctly Indiana Jones–like Roy Chapman Andrews sticks to the historical record in describing his monumental expeditions into remotest China and Mongolia. It is, however, well-stocked with invented details and dialogue—much of the latter not exactly lifelike: “The fossils are out there, Roy. Now it’s time for you to go and find them.” Cohen’s narrative unfolds along similarly heavy lines (“To get through the difficult experiences that surely lay ahead, Roy would have to rely on the lucky star that had shone down on him ever since he was a boy”). Moreover, it jumps confusingly back and forth in time, and the stingy selection of small photos hardly does justice to either Andrews’s adventures or the importance of his scientific discoveries. Young readers will be more effectively wowed by Ann Bausum’s more accurate, coherent and far better illustrated Dragon Bones and Dinosaur Eggs (2000). (Fictionalized biography. 11-13)