UTTERLY AMAZING DINOSAUR

Flashing teeth, beaks, feathers, and bright patterns, dinos and prehistoric reptiles pose or pop up in this paleontological parade.

A triceratops and an era-ending meteoric explosion pop up dramatically, and large flaps fleshing out opposed skulls of a carnivore and an herbivore really highlight structural differences. Otherwise, this broad but shallow outing offers standard-issue basic facts about dinosaur sizes and shapes, the spikes and other features that distinguish various types, dino poo and farts, continental drift, fossilization, paleontological practices, and birds. Few of the flaps and pop-up scenes add much to the discourse, and the art is an awkward mix: photos and finely detailed, realistically modeled stock images are combined with flatter, more simply drawn figures or even silhouettes—all floating on monochromatic backgrounds or, occasionally, rudimentary evocations of ferny habitat.

A routine run over a well-beaten path.