The Mammals

School Library Journal

Gr 5-8There's nothing special about these series entries. If your library has other books on prehistoric animals, Dinosaurs and Mammals probably reiterate what's already on your shelf. The major plus about Dinosaurs is that it includes hard-to-come-by information on the prehistoric continents and on climates and plant growth during various eras. Otherwise, Dougal Dixon's Dinosaurs (Boyds Mills, 1993) is better all around. Pickering's title focuses on the development of the North American tribes that might have crossed the land bridge from Asia to the Americas. Since there are very few books that cover pre-European history of North America and civilizations such as the mound builders, this is the best of the three books. Westrup scans the rise of Mammals, from small rodents to huge sloths and mammoths. He includes a particularly interesting section on the puzzling discovery of petrified tunnels, which scientists concluded were dug by ancient beaverswith their teeth! Daniel Cohen's Prehistoric Animals (Doubleday, 1988; o.p.) is equally informative and more appealing. The full-color illustrations are a major detriment to all these volumes. Often the pictures don't match the text, and when they do, they don't do much to relieve the arid style of the writing.Cathryn A. Camper, Minneapolis Public Library