Dinosaurs Roar, Butterflies Soar!

Publishers Weekly

Barner revisits the weighty subjects of his popular Dinosaur Bones, looking at how butterflies coexisted with dinosaurs: "By spreading pollen from bloom to bloom, butterflies helped flowering plants flourish. Flowering plants made more air for dinosaurs to breathe and huge amounts of food for them to eat." Each double spread's format is the same: one sentence in colorful, blocky typeface sits amid the artist's bold cut-paper designs, the entire layout backed with a single, vivid hue. Additional facts in smaller type extend the narrative. The inviting, flashy interplay of the many colors, patterns and textures (e.g., painted butterfly wings are thinly edged in flower motifs) establishes an upbeat tone-except for the nearly monochromatic spread on dinosaur extinction. "But butterflies lived!" the next page reads, as two enormous specimens perch on flowers. An easy-to-read time line contextualizes the chronology of the first dinosaurs, flowers and butterflies (and even cats, dogs and humans) as a smattering of facts about seeds, insects or dinosaurs rounds out this aesthetic extension of a popular topic. Ages 4-8. (May)

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Children's Literature - Jennie DeGenaro

You will find out what author Bob Barner and scientists believe happened to dinosaurs and why butterflies are still around in the pages of this book. Opinions vary as to what happened millions of years ago, but this book deserves attention because it is both interesting and unique. When you smell a flower, a dinosaur may have done the same thing millions of years ago. Butterflies have been around millions of years, although dinosaurs were here first. Millions of years ago, young dinosaurs had feathers. You will never believe how large birds were that flew through the sky or how big their eggs were. Dinosaurs were the first animals on the planet. They were the first farmers—not by design, but by lifestyle. You will learn when butterflies and other insects started inhabiting the planet. The world was beautiful, and insects made it possible for large animals to have enough to eat. Animals change or die out. Several theories for why dinosaurs became extinct are explained. The planet continued to support smaller animals and plant life. Much can be learned from reading this attractive, unpaged book. The author also illustrated this book, with colorful collages. Chronicle Books published three other books by Bob Barner. Reviewer: Jennie DeGenaro

School Library Journal

Gr 1-3

This gently informative book describes the role butterflies played in helping dinosaurs and their environment flourish. The main text offers a simpler narrative than the supplementary and more detailed one in small type that appears below or next to it. A close-up of an electric blue dinosaur with a butterfly on its snout accompanies the revelation that, after living together on Earth for millions of years, "suddenly, their time together ended." A few of the predominant theories about the dinosaurs' extinction and explanations of the continuing survival of butterflies are put forth. A final spread adds fun factoids about dinosaur and insect life. Barner's illustrations are, as always, fantastically bright, eye-catching cut-paper collages. A useful, engaging, and illuminating book.-Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY

Kirkus Reviews

Barner goes prehistoric once again (Dinosaur Bones, 2001), but this time he pairs gigantic beasts with the tiniest of companions-butterflies. Millions of years ago butterflies helped to pollinate plants, which in turn increased the dinosaurs' food supply and enriched the air with oxygen. The author tells this scientific story on two levels: Simple details appear in large, prominent type, while smaller, additional information reaches out to older readers, making it one of those "works on two levels" books that really does work. The attempt to explain extinction-a fate that butterflies luckily escaped-flirts with oversimplification, but the bright, fiery asteroid crashing across the page will be popular with children (flaming rock never fails to captivate). Vibrant paper collage in highly saturated colors and playful perspectives add texture and layers to this unlikely symbiotic duo. The text reminds readers at the end that "the next time you see a fluttering butterfly or smell a flower...millions of years ago a T. rex may have done the same." Dino fanatics will revel in the personal connection. (timeline, appended facts) (Informational picture book. 4-8)