How Do We Know Where People Came From?

School Library Journal

Gr 5-8Two offerings that examine the latest evidence about dinosaurs and early human civilizations. Each double-page chapter addresses a ``how do we know'' question with text and drawings scattered across the spread. A lot of ground is covered in each book, but there is no depth to the information. Benton looks at dinosaurs' diets, movement, color, ability to think, breeding, etc., but mentions only a couple of theories that explain their extinction. Corbishley discusses early writing, Stonehenge, the Great Wall of China, the Easter Island statues, and early tools, but details only one possible way the pyramids were constructed. Many of the illustrations are quite informative, but it is not always easy to know which one goes with what text, particularly in People. Both titles adequately introduce some of the rudiments of archaeology and paleontology. However, the dry, occasionally confusing presentations may not pique chilldren's interest enough to send them looking for more detailed accounts. Jane McIntosh's Archeology (1994), Nick Merriman's Early Humans (1989), and David Norman and Angela Miller's Dinosaur (1989, all Knopf) do it better.Peg Glisson, Dewitt Road School, Webster, NY