ASTEROID IMPACT

To eye-widening scenes of an asteroid blazing down from the heavens and creating a titanic fireball, Henderson (Dinosaur Ghosts: The Mystery of Coelophysis, 1997) matches a suitably dramatic, written account of how the Age of Dinosaurs probably came to its precipitate end. Explanations are lucid and accessible, appropriately scientific while being fascinating reading. Though this is nowhere near the first book for younger readers that reconstructs that sixty-five-million-year-old catastrophe, the author does provide a dinosaur’s-eye view of its first moments, discusses its long-term atmospheric and climatic effects, and points out that it probably brought on the age of mammals, in which we humans are “one story.” Henderson’s incredible paintings depict a host of prehistoric land and sea creatures with vividly colored skin patterns and his spectacular scenes of billowing flames, clouds of dust, and falling snow and ash are breathtaking. He closes with a question-and-answer section that recounts the modern discovery of the blast’s geological and paleontological evidence. (index, short bibliography) (Nonfiction. 8-10)