Review by Booklist Review
This STEM treasure trove may start out with an iguanodon's death and fossilization, but the book is anything but a downer. A quick prologue sets the stage: for much of history, people assumed that dinosaur fossils could only belong to monsters or dragons. As knowledge of the natural world increased and the scientific method became more established, it became obvious that scientific theories must be constantly revised when new information comes to light. The perfect example of this progression comes in the form of the ever-changing understanding of the iguanodon, from its initial depiction as a lumpy lizard ("I DO look pretty terrible here," an early rendering of an iguanodon notes) to a lumbering biped to a warm-blooded quadruped. Speculation on future updates acts as a final reminder that science is always evolving. Though the spectacular story ostensibly focuses on the iguanodon and other dinosaur discoveries, it sneakily tells a larger tale of science's adaptability. The chipper text is entertaining and educational, packed with humorous asides and unexpected anecdotes without losing the overarching story. Immersive illustrations put readers in the thick of things, incorporating diagrams and text boxes into the ongoing action. Younger readers will adore the arresting artwork, and older readers will appreciate the wealth of newfound knowledge. A terrific tribute to the adaptability of the scientific process and the wonders that it unearths.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
How do people conjure what extinct dinosaurs looked like? Via carefully cross-hatched pencil and digital collage, sprightly prose, and comic asides--and using informative sidebars to catalog changes in iterative iguanodon portrayals--Rubin (This Very Tree) surveys changing depictions of dinosaur anatomy. First, the work straightforwardly presents Mary Ann Mantell and husband Gideon's 1822 discovery of parts of an unknown creature. The couple attributes their findings to an extinct animal, which Gideon names "iguanodon"; he believes a bony spike they find sat on its nose. Early attempts to sculpt dinosaurs capture public attention, but "unfortunately, they were totally inaccurate," reads tongue-in-cheek text ("Seriously. This is embarrassing," an early iguanodon sculpture complains). When a complete skeleton is unearthed in 1878, paleontologist Louis Dollo suggests that the iguanodon walked upright, a theory that subsequent discoveries, showing no tailmarks, debunk. But Dollo does identify the bone spikes as part of the creature's hands. More recently, in the late 20th century, John Ostrom's theories led paleontologists to see dinosaurs as birds' colorful forebears. Images of dinosaurs tend to be accepted as fixed; this volume shows them as continually changing, and presents those changes as examples of science as "a process that never ends." An author's note concludes. Ages 4--8. Agent: Marietta B. Zacker, Gallt & Zacker Literary. (Mar.)
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Review by Horn Book Review
What did dinosaurs really look like? The best attempts to answer this question are constantly changing. Rubin shows how each major find in paleontology, as well as the techniques and creativity used by paleoartists, have produced improvements in scientifically grounded artistic illustrations. For the iguanodon, unearthed in the early nineteenth century, each subsequent discovery of new fossils, including complete skeletons, was a big help (and one discovery showed that what was thought to be a horn was really a thumb-spike). But equally important were the theoretical advances that led scientists to think of dinosaurs as more akin to modern birds than to modern reptiles. The illustrations for the most recent theories are some of the most exciting, adding colorful flesh, wattles, and feathers reminiscent of the variations in birds. Rubin's pencil, watercolor, and "digital collages" (from the copyright page: "The artist is not entirely sure what to call all this, but 'digital collage' sort of makes sense") portray the paleontologists and artists of each era alongside a rendition of the time period's signature dinosaur, with humorous asides from both species. A helpful text box accompanies the dinosaur portraits and includes a list of their key features, facilitating comparisons across the history of paleontology. Endnotes provide additional backstory as well as source illustrations from prominent historical and contemporary paleoartists. Danielle J. FordMarch/April 2024 p.115 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
In lavish visual detail, Rubin chronicles our changing perceptions of what dinosaurs were like. "Science is a process," Rubin writes, and he picks a terrific case study to demonstrate the point. He specifically looks at fossil spikes that were thought by early discoverers to go on Iguanodon's nose until later studies proved that they were parts of the dino's front feet. The author more generally chronicles how dinosaurs have been transformed in our minds over the past century or so from drab, lumpish, lizardlike behemoths to today's vivid visions of active, often riotously decorated creatures with "baggy bits and saggy bits." In both the narrative and in exuberant whirls of historical reconstructions and fanciful prehistoric scenes rich with stylistic homages, often linked by sinuous ribbons of running dates and facts, he pays fulsome tribute to many of the amateur and professional paleontologists (and particularly paleoartists) who shaped these visions over the years. So it is that young dinophiles who linger over the art will meet a host of individualized human figures from solitary diggers and sketchers to racially diverse crews of museum workers painstakingly assembling, and reassembling, fossil bones. The dinosaurian cast includes Iguanodon, who appears repeatedly in evolving iterations making grumpy or punning comments ("I DO look pretty terrible here") at its head. Readers will come away vastly more appreciative of, and knowledgeable about, the architects of the ongoing "Dinosaur Renaissance." Lively, funny, and mesmerizing. (endnotes) (Informational picture book. 7-10) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
