Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The husband-and-wife team of Plumridge and Eggleton, with a photocomposition assist from Cortney Skinner (who gets a nod on the copyright page), ups the ante for books that imagine how real dinosaurs might add a cool factor to modern life, especially where kids are involved. Each "What if?" spread seamlessly brings together encyclopedia-quality portraits of both popular and obscure dinosaurs with documentary style scenes, while Plumridge's succinct "Dinosaur Factprint" sidebars strike a nice balance between fanciful and factual. As a photograph shows a group of kids waiting at an intersection, a watchful illustrated corythosaurus (seen holding a stop sign) proves she is the ideal crossing guard, "large enough to stop traffic and colorful enough to not need the neon vests." The incongruity is consistently fun (another group of children climb a stegosaurus like it's a piece of playground equipment), and some of the images are gorgeous, like the cryolophosaurus trapeze artist flying above a circus crowd or the bambiraptor reveling in the spray of a backyard hose as it gets a bath from its owners. Ages 3-8. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-K-What would your hometown be like if dinosaurs had not gone extinct? Combining modern photography with colorful, semi-realistic artwork, Plumridge and Eggleton provide some interesting possibilities. A Corythosaurus ("big enough to stop traffic") could be a school crossing-guard, a speedy Ornithomimus would be perfect for the track team, and a "very gentle" Maiasaura might be a splendid babysitter. (And then there is that leashed T-rex creating the need for a huge pooper-scooper!) Each facing page spread contains a "Dinosaur Factprint!" box containing a pronunciation guide and some pertinent data on the dino depicted. A small carp here-four of the inclusions were not dinosaurs-Rhamphoryncus, Peteinosaurus and Pteranodon were all Pterosaurs, and Liopleurodon was a Pliosaur (whose exact size is a matter of scientific controversy). Appended is a list of references, for those looking for "more, please!" Eye-catching and fun (if more than a tad far-fetched), this is a evolutionary improvement on Bernard Most's very golden-oldie If the Dinosaurs Came Back (Harcourt 1978) and will have imaginative kids conjuring up their own ideas, and inspiring them to hit the shelves for scientific works as well.-Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY (c) Copyright 2014. 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
A mishmash of prehistoric fact and fancy, well overmatched by illustrations featuring images of full-sized dinos that look just as real as the photographed children who pose around or on them. With a similar premise to Bernard Most's classic If the Dinosaurs Came Back (1978) but without even its loose brand of internal logic, the author introduces 26 dinosaurs by name and suggests a supposed occupation or consequence. These often appear to be entirely arbitrary: "If a Tarbosaurus lived in my town / he and his cousin, Tyrannosaurus Rex, could have a hamburger eating contest!" In frequently clumsy phrasing (Corythosaurus "had hundreds of little teeth inside of her cheeks to chew with"), added dinosaur "Factprints" on each spread offer mixes of "facts" that sometimes contradict fossil evidence, as with a claim that Liopleurodon was larger than the blue whale. Others are just pure speculation: Maiasaura "would be very gentle with tiny human children" and Parasaurolophus calls "sounded like notes played on a French horn, or even a deep-throated trombone or bassoon." On the other hand, though many bear human expressions, Eggleton's dinosaurs are both realistically detailed and convincingly integrated into playgrounds and other familiar modern settings. The most recent reference in the bibliography is dated 2006, and one is as old as 1988. Eye-brightening visuals in search of a better text. (index, not seen) (Picture book. 7-9)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
