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GIANT DINOSAURS OF THE JURASSIC

Name: GIANT DINOSAURS OF THE JURASSIC
Author: Gregory Wenzel
ISBN: 1-57091-563-6

by Gregory Wenzel & illustrated by Gregory Wenzel ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2004

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The author/illustrator of Feathered Dinosaurs of China (p. 43) looks closer to home, taking young dinophiles back 150 million years and focusing on species discovered in the Rocky Mountains’ Morrison Formation. Considering the lurid choices available to dinosaur fans these days, it’s a rather staid tour; he begins close to ground level with glimpses of frogs, cat-sized herbivores called Othniela, and five-foot-long turtles, then proceeds in stages to 30-ton Apatosaurus, toothy Allosaurus, and finally a humongous, 110-foot-long Diplodocus. Each appears in a similarly angled, middle-distance view, either as part of a detailed scene or as a paler vignette without background vegetation. The text reads like museum commentary—“A group of sauropods, called Camarasaurus, dines on tall bushes and trees in the nearby araucaria wood”—with violent events occasionally described, but not depicted. Most of the extinct critters here are shown posing rather than in action, and, aside from a Stegosaur’s vivid purple and green, the colors are subdued. Readers who just can’t get enough on the topic will snap this up, but it’s one of the banquet’s blander courses. (Picture book/nonfiction. 8-10)

Pub Date: July 1, 2004

ISBN: 1-57091-563-6

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Charlesbridge

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2004

Categories:

CHILDREN'S DINOSAURS & PREHISTORIC CREATURES

- BOOK REVIEW
FEATHERED DINOSAURS OF CHINA
by Gregory Wenzel & illustrated by Gregory Wenzel

- BOOK REVIEW
THE DEEP-SEA FLOOR
by Sneed B. Collard III & illustrated by Gregory Wenzel

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HOW TO TAME A TRICERATOPS

From the Dino Riders series , Vol. 1

by Will Dare ; illustrated by Will Dare ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 4, 2017

Adventures and misadventures, Old West style—but with dinos.

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Young Josh needs to up his ride if he’s going to win the Trihorn settlement’s 100th-anniversary Founders’ Day race and meet his hero, Terrordactyl Bill.

Set on the Lost Plains, where ranchers tend to herds of iguanodons, and horses (if there were any) would be easy pickings for the local predators, this series kickoff pits a brash lad and sidekick and schoolmates Sam and Abi against not only the requisite bully, but such fiercer adversaries as attacking pterodactyls. Josh’s first challenge after eagerly entering the race is finding a faster, nimbler steed than his steady but old gallimimus, Plodder. Along comes Charge—an aptly named, if not-quite-fully-trained triceratops with speed, brains, and, it turns out, a streak of loyalty that saves Josh’s bacon both here and in a simultaneously publishing sequel, How To Rope a Giganotosaurus, which prominently features T. Rex’s much larger cousin. Dare adds a map, as well as spot illustrations of rural Western types (Josh and Abi are white, Sam has dark skin and tightly curled hair) astride toothy, brightly patterned dinos. In both adventures Josh weathers regular encounters with dinosaur dung, snot, and gas as well as threats to life and limb to show up the aforementioned bully and emerge a hero.

Adventures and misadventures, Old West style—but with dinos. (Fantasy. 8-10)

Pub Date: April 4, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-4926-4668-6

Page Count: 128

Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION | CHILDREN'S DINOSAURS & PREHISTORIC CREATURES

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GIGANTIC!

HOW BIG WERE THE DINOSAURS?

by Patrick O’Brien ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1999

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O’Brien celebrates 14 prehistoric monsters by presenting each with a modern object or a human, thereby giving readers information about the size of these giants. Dinosaurs, in full-color and full-snarl, dominate the double-page layouts as they frolic and menace an airplane, fire truck, tank, automobile, and assorted people. For every creature, O’Brien provides the name, its meaning, and a brief line of text. Three of the creatures presented are not dinosaurs at all—Quetzalcoatlus, a pterosaur, Phobosuchus, a relative of the crocodiles, and Dinichthys, a bony fish—which the author mentions in the back matter. The illustrations are not drawn to scale, e.g., if Spinosaurus is really 49 feet long, as the text indicates, the car it is shown next to would appear to be 30 feet long. Readers may have to puzzle over a few scenes, but will enjoy browsing through this book, from the dramatic eyeball view of a toothy Tyrannosaurus rex on the cover to the final head-on glare from a Triceratops. (Picture book/nonfiction. 5-9)