FINDING OUT ABOUT DINOSAURS
by Elin Kelsey
Recent dinosaur discoveries, speculations, and continuing questions are explored in this title in the Science Explorers series from Owl Magazine, intended for older dinosaur buffs. Did dinosaurs have feathers? What did baby dinosaurs look like? What kind of dinosaur made that coprolite “poop?” Each topic is introduced in a double-page spread, with text and half a dozen photographs and drawings. Photographs show working scientists on digs and in the laboratory, as well as images produced by the high-tech equipment like electron microprobes used to map the chemical components of dinosaur coprolites. The juxtaposition of fossil photographs, and artist interpretations, for example, the mother Maiasaura tending her babies, may prove jarring to adult viewers, but children raised on computer simulations and movies like Jurassic Park, will take them in stride. In addition to dinosaurs, the title introduces half a dozen working scientists with quotes, thumbnail biographies, and photos. An intriguing additional purchase, which will appeal to dinosaur enthusiasts. (index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)