Review by Booklist Review
In this simple, brightly illustrated book, Gibbons introduces dinosaurs. After discussing how long ago they lived and how their remains were sometimes preserved, she shows the way paleontologists use fossils to deduce information about the anatomy and behavior of beasts they have never seen. The book's middle section focuses on the five main types of nonbird dinosaurs, with several different species identified in each ink-and-watercolor illustration. Gibbons concludes with a discussion of the giant-meteor-impact theory of the dinosaurs' end and a cheerful scene in a natural history museum's dinosaur exhibit. As in many nonfiction picture books, no sources are cited. An appended page entitled More about Dinosaurs includes five additional fast fact presentations along with small pictures. Throughout the book, the combination of clear writing and lively artwork makes this an accessible choice for young dinosaur enthusiasts.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2008 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-4-This is a simpler book than the author's Dinosaur Discoveries (Holiday House, 2005) but still adheres to the "nonbird" dinos, meaning those without feathers. Gibbons present a parade of Prosauropods, Therapods, Sauropods, Ceratopsians, and others for neophyte perusal, along with notes on the fossilization process, paleontology in general, and dinosaurian behaviors. Her rather slapdash illustrations do not include a time line, so young readers may not be aware that a variety of Ankylosaurs existed from the Middle Jurassic to the end of the Cretaceous (a period of some 150-plus million years) and did not all exist at one moment in time. Statements indicating that Prosauropods were plant-eaters may be confusing when a blade-toothed Herrerasaurus (admittedly a confusing critter in his own right) is included in the illustration. Gibbons's books have proved popular in the past, and this new one should prove attractive as well.-Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY (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 Horn Book Review
Gibbons describes seven groups of nonbird dinosaurs (prosauropods, theropods, sauropods, stegosaurs, ankylosaurs, ceratopsians, and ornithopods), pointing out common features, habits, and other interesting facts about them. Her signature illustrations, amiably sketchlike yet accurate, portray mainly non-scary-looking dinosaurs as well as the paleontologists who study their fossil remains. All dinosaur names are accompanied by useful phonetic pronunciations. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Gibbons replaces her 1987 take on the topic (Dinosaurs--without the exclamation point) with a more populous and--usually--livelier primer. Along with devoting a page or spread to each of seven main groups, she shows paleontologists in action, portrays the great extinction of 65 million years ago and closes with a page of random dino-facts. There is some meat-eating going on in one spread, but most of the dinosaurs pose in stately, nondisturbing dignity, displaying faint skin patterning or none, against simplified landscapes. Sometimes clarity is sacrificed to simplicity: In one potential point of confusion, Theropods, the ancestors of birds, are billed as "nonbird," despite a later page about the "birdlike" Archaeopteryx. This very basic overview comes with a few dozen dino-names (with pronunciation guides) to practice, and leads naturally into the author's more detailed Dinosaur Discoveries (2005). (Informational picture book. 3-7) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
