by Charlotte Lewis Brown & illustrated by Phil Wilson ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2006
Paleontologist Brown presents developing readers with a vividly imagined recreation of an asteroid impact and its immediate and subsequent effects on the dinosaurs. She sets up her scenario with an introductory, “It may have happened like this . . . ” and follows with action-filled narration that finds a T. rex peacefully chowing down on an Edmontosaurus while behind him a “strange new light” appears in the sky. After immediately incinerating the giant carnivore, the asteroid’s wave of destruction moves outward, mowing down Triceratops and Alamosaurus with equal abandon. Although they are not killed in the initial impact, a herd of Parasaurolophuses, who hide in caves in the far north, slowly starve to death upon reemerging into a blasted world. Clearly, there’s more than enough violence and destruction to delight the most jaded eight-year-old, all related in the simple and forthright vocabulary and syntax of an I Can Read! entry. Wilson’s illustrations add stripes and other splashes of color to the dinosaurs’ hides, as well as expressions of alarm to their faces, the scenes of destruction appropriately garish and full of motion. Sure to find its audience. (author’s note, pronunciation guide) (Easy reader/nonfiction. 6-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-000528-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2006
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by Charlotte Lewis Brown & illustrated by Phil Wilson
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by Charlotte Lewis Brown & illustrated by Phil Wilson
by Britta Drehsen & illustrated by Sara Ball & translated by Laura Lindgren ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2011
Sturdy split pages allow readers to create their own inventive combinations from among a handful of prehistoric critters. Hard on the heels of Flip-O-Saurus (2010) drops this companion gallery, printed on durable boards and offering opportunities to mix and match body thirds of eight prehistoric mammals, plus a fish and a bird, to create such portmanteau creatures as a “Gas-Lo-Therium,” or a “Mega-Tor-Don.” The “Mam-Nyc-Nia” places the head of a mammoth next to the wings and torso of an Icaronycteris (prehistoric bat) and the hind legs of a Macrauchenia (a llamalike creature with a short trunk), to amusing effect. Drehsen adds first-person captions on the versos, which will also mix and match to produce chuckles: “Do you like my nose? It’s actually a short trunk…” “I may remind you of an ostrich, because my wings aren’t built for flying…” “My tail looks like a dolphin’s.” With but ten layers to flip, young paleontologists will run through most of the permutations in just a few minutes, but Ball’s precisely detailed ink-and-watercolor portraits of each animal formally posed against plain cream colored backdrops may provide a slightly more enduring draw. A silhouette key on the front pastedown includes a pronunciation guide and indicates scale. Overall, a pleasing complement to more substantive treatments. (Novelty nonfiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7892-1099-9
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Abbeville Kids
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
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by Jane Yolen ; illustrated by Mark Teague ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 20, 2020
Formulaic but not stale…even if it does mine previous topical material rather than expand it.
A guide to better behavior—at home, on the playground, in class, and in the library.
Serving as a sort of overview for the series’ 12 previous exercises in behavior modeling, this latest outing opens with a set of badly behaving dinos, identified in an endpaper key and also inconspicuously in situ. Per series formula, these are paired to leading questions like “Does she spit out her broccoli onto the floor? / Does he shout ‘I hate meat loaf!’ while slamming the door?” (Choruses of “NO!” from young audiences are welcome.) Midway through, the tone changes (“No, dinosaurs don’t”), and good examples follow to the tune of positive declarative sentences: “They wipe up the tables and vacuum the floors. / They share all the books and they never slam doors,” etc. Teague’s customary, humongous prehistoric crew, all depicted in exact detail and with wildly flashy coloration, fill both their spreads and their human-scale scenes as their human parents—no same-sex couples but some are racially mixed, and in one the man’s the cook—join a similarly diverse set of sibs and other children in either disapprobation or approving smiles. All in all, it’s a well-tested mix of oblique and prescriptive approaches to proper behavior as well as a lighthearted way to play up the use of “please,” “thank you,” and even “I’ll help when you’re hurt.”
Formulaic but not stale…even if it does mine previous topical material rather than expand it. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-338-36334-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Blue Sky/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
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More In The Series
by Jane Yolen ; illustrated by Mark Teague
by Jane Yolen ; illustrated by Mark Teague
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by Jane Yolen ; illustrated by Laura Barella
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by Jane Yolen ; illustrated by Felishia Henditirto
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by Jane Yolen ; illustrated by Maya Shleifer
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