101 DINOSAURS

Meet 101 dinosaurs by name, divided by type, in this colorful board book.

Each two-page spread features a different grouping of dinosaur types, including favorites such as the “Long-Necks” and “Sharp-toothed.” The verso explains the type, and the recto includes illustrations of many examples, along with their names and phonetic spellings. The description of each grouping consists of four choppy sentences without a lot of variety, and each right-hand page concludes with the repeated phrase “Every dino has a name. / No two dinos were the same!” (with a small alteration of “dinos” to “reptiles” for “Flyers” and “Swimmers”). Though the board-book format implies that this is for very young readers, there’s too much information for that audience to digest. The layout allows for an abridged reading of just the group descriptions, but the writing for these is obvious and lackluster. There aren’t any truly interesting facts or exciting illustrations to grab readers or to set this book apart from a generic encyclopedia entry. The final pages include a dizzying illustration of all the dinosaurs sans names and invite readers to count them. This is a daunting task for a young child—there are 101!—and the crammed-in dinosaurs on the page don’t provide much visual interest.

Overall, the dinosaur information presented is readily found in other, more-interesting books, and the format is an ill fit.