November 1, 2019
Gr 3-7-Dinosaur profiles offer key facts about popular species, accompanied by engaging illustrations. One or two short paragraphs per spread describe size, physical characteristics, diet, and predation, with concluding pages on extinction and fossils. Written content appears in carefully placed text boxes, leaving room for a single illustration within each spread. Images depict different behaviors, and many scenes include several dinosaurs in action. The large-scale visual approach adds drama but also means readers do not get close-up views of features described in the text, such as Ankylosaurus plates or the nostrils of Diplodocus. VERDICT Readers will need to look elsewhere for more in-depth details about dinosaur species, but these are functional and appealing introductions. Solid choices to beef up the 567's.
Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
January 1, 2020
Grades 2-4 The mighty reptiles prowling through these volumes of The World of Dinosaurs series (6 titles) hail from the late Cretaceous period, but they'll feel right at home in the hands of today's curious kids. The series' high-interest subject and graphics-forward design will catch and hold readers' attention through a variety of infographics, digital illustrations, photos, and dino stats and facts. The turkey-sized subject of Velociraptor couldn't fly, but the text reveals its feathers and wishbone signal a relationship to modern birds. All entries present the meteorite theory as the likely cause of dinosaurs' extinction, segueing into a light discussion of fossils. A final two-page spread visually recaps the book's main facts via a labeled dino diagram surrounded by fact boxes pertaining to its size, territorial range, diet, era (though, curiously, only the periods are named), and fossils. These books provide appealing introductions to different dinosaurs, but they don't go beyond basic facts for readers already in the know.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)