Dinomania: Things to Do with Dinosaurs

Publishers Weekly

Husband-and-wife team Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom suggest numerous activities for dinosaur-lovers, such as making a "Pterosaur Mobile," Triceratops mask and a dinosaur video in Dinomania: Things to Do with Dinosaurs. Informative "fact bites" appear throughout; an index with pronunciation guide closes the volume; endpapers double as dinosaur stencils. (Mar.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Gr 1-4-Here's a book with a kid-friendly text, expressive and colorful illustrations, and creative activities and crafts. Endpapers sport traceable patterns of dinosaur shapes to use in some of the activities. Throughout the book, trivia facts entertain and enlighten. By way of an introduction, there is a brief discussion of fossils, the evolution of the first animals, and the identification and illustration of 16 different dinosaurs and sea reptiles (with name, period in which they lived, length, what they ate). The creatures of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods are highlighted and children learn about herbivores, plants, the definition of paleontology, and mammal hunters (Troodon). The crafts call for easily obtainable materials and there is a wide array of things to do, such as constructing a time line, a dinosaur-park diorama, a moonlit forest, a nesting colony, a mobile, papier-m ch dinosaur eggs, a volcano, and a sock puppet. There are even directions for raptor, Stegosaurus, and Triceratops costumes for dress-up fun. Instructions are given for putting on a play, learning about sound effects, doing a "dinosaur dance," and producing a video. And for those quiet days-there's a writing exercise that encourages imaginative thinking. Back matter consists of a dinosaur index with pronunciation key. A good supplemental choice to use with Kathy Ross's Crafts for Kids Who Are Wild about Dinosaurs (Millbrook, 1997), Judy Press's Kids' Natural History Book (Williamson, 2000), and Ting and Neil Morris's Dinosaurs (Watts, 1993).-Augusta R. Malvagno, Queens Borough Public Library, NY Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.