DIGGING FOR DINOSAURS

There is a minimum of text and a maximum of pictures for the ease and comfort of the youngest readers in this age group. The polysyllabic names of the dinosaurs are spelled out in phonetics. The author is a distinguished paleontologist and his assortment of prehistoric creatures include those that swam as well as those that flew. The most space goes to the thunder lizards with brief descriptions of their habitat, their diets and their measurements. the last item is essential because, like other books on dinosaurs, this one compounds visual confusion. Barrie Driscoll's black and white drawings are handsome, but, for instance, the sixty footer and the five footer look about the same size in side-by-side renderings. the title is misleading because there is very little about the actual digging up of specimen bones and their reconstruction. There is a map of the foremost skeleton sites and a handy list of American and Canadian museums with dinosaur displays.