Review by Booklist Review
Ages 4-8. Professor Potts takes his conglomeration of old bones and ingeniously fashions them into a tribrontosaurus rex--to the amazement of his fellow scientists.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Professor Potts's unique fossil assembly puts a sportive spin on anthropology--Donald Carrick's lushly-hued, intricate artwork completes the picture. Ages 3-8. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-4-- Fossilized dinosaur bones are like pieces to a puzzle, and scientists have not always put the puzzle together correctly. The Carricks' beautifully illustrated new book concerns a fictitious paleontologist, Professor Potts, and his struggles to construct a dinosaur from unidentified fossilized bones. First he builds a Tricerotops, then a Tyrannosaurus Rex, then a Brontosaurus; but all of his constructions seem to him too incredulous to have really lived. Finally, he combines all of the bones into one creature with the help of his wife, who sews a patchwork skin for it. He then presents his discovery to the world as a ``Tribrontosaurus Rex.'' Carrick adds a helpful follow-up note explaining that although her tale is fictitious, its premise is true. She gives examples of paleontological ``goofs''--the Iguanodon whose thumb was thought to be a nose horn, the Brontosaurus with the wrong head. Carrick's premise is all well and good; it's the implied snappy resolve which never materializes. Potts' imaginary construction is no more or less amazing than the real dinosaurs he constructs, and one wonders why he settles for the creature that he did. There's not enough outrageousness to make the final revelation of the creature truly astonishing. As it is, the concept the author wants to convey works, but the story's ending packs no punch. --Cathryn A. Camper, Minneapolis Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The Carricks' third imaginative picture book involving the most popular of subjects. ""Long ago, when the Old West was new,"" Professor Potts, his wife, and their son interrupted a transcontinental train journey to unearth some large, unusual bones with the help of the family dog. Back East, the Professor tries various ways of putting them together; but though he achieves forms similar to those of triceratops, tyrannosaurus rex, and ""brontosaurus,"" there are always extra parts. Satisfied at last, he asks his wife to manufacture a skin, which she gladly does--using several giddy fabrics--so that when he finally unveils his ""tribrontosaurns rex,"" it is a truly amazing patchwork creation. This amusing flight of fancy is based on a germ of truth: early reconstructions often were made up of parts of more than one species (brontosaurus has only recently been discovered to be such a creation). Meanwhile, Donald Carrick's illustrations here are as lovely as watercolors--vividly evocative of the western landscape and the wonderfully cluttered scientist's workshop, and deliciously full of humor--as the Pottses puzzle over their bone supply and come up with their preposterous solution. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
