PINOCCHIO REX AND OTHER TYRANNOSAURS

Tyrannosaurus rex poses with 10 recently discovered relatives in this toothy portrait gallery.

Speaking as “Dr. Steve,” co-author Brusatte—paleontologist and tyrannosaur lover—explains to young dinomanes how the titular tyranno (formally dubbed Qianzhousaurus, nicknamed for its long nose) was unearthed and reconstructed before going on to introduce nine other 21st-century discoveries. Each comes with a general description, a “fact file” of basic statistics, a collective timeline that neatly groups contemporaries, and a realistically posed and rendered individual portrait in a natural setting. Following a simple but effective activity involving chalk, a tape measure, and a very large expanse of concrete, an equally cogent infographic at the end illustrates size extremes in this prehistoric clan by juxtaposing images of a human child, a like-sized Kileskus, a full size T. Rex, and a (slightly smaller) school bus. The dinos display a wide range of coloration and skin and feather patterns as well as distinctive crests or other physical features, but Dr. Steve, who is white, is the only individualized human figure until a closing album of snapshot photos.

A winning, and necessary, update to Kathleen Zoehfeld’s Terrible Tyrannosaurs (2001, illustrated by Lucia Washburn).