Synopsis
Cindy L. Carolan - Children's Literature
It looks like a bird watching pocket guide, but one would be hard pressed to find any of the creatures depicted within this pocket guide today! Any dinosaur lover who devours facts as quickly as one of the subjects inhaled their food will thoroughly enjoy this compact reference book. Set up just like a guide book, it examines 120 kinds of dinosaur and other prehistoric animals, presenting them in the three groups, representative of the different periods of the Mesozoic Era (Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous). The left-hand margin of each two-page spread is perhaps the most useful, listing numerous facts such as; length, weight, time, description and diet. Also set forth in this section are pie graphs showing specific time frame within which the dinosaur lived as it pertains to the larger era of dinosaurs. Maps, size comparisons and more text based detailed descriptions follow. So lifelike are the illustrations that they practically jump off the page! One, and only one fairly substantial fault; the illustrations fall directly in the middle of the two pages, making it difficult, almost impossible, to see the entire dinosaur. A three ring or spiral binding would alleviate this issue, but as published, it is very hard to see the full picture without breaking the binding. An interesting introduction and suggested reading opens the book and related web-sites and museums are listed at the conclusion. Recommended. 2003 (orig. 2002), Sterling Publishing Co, Ages 8 up.