Book Reviews for Ages 9 - 12

 

What have we Reviewed?

  1. National Geographic Dinosaurs by Paul Barratt and Raul Martin.

  2. Usborne Discovery Internet Linked Dinosaurs by Rachel Firth.

 

1) National Geographic Dinosaurs by Paul Barratt and Raul Martin.

This book is a few years old now and as a consequence has no mention of dinosaurs with feathers per current theories, that said it is an easy to follow, well illustrated book for this age group.

In its nearly 200 pages it discusses the chronology of the dinosaur age, gives a brief history of key discoveries, the creatures’ habits and characteristics followed by profiles on about 50 different species of the most well-known dinosaurs, like T-Rex, Triceratops and Stegosaurus, as well as some lesser known ones. These profiles are split into bird-hipped and lizard-hipped types and cover such information as size, location, era and basic info and facts.  A time line, fact file, and map for each species appear consistently on the edge of the page.  It is not a comprehensive dictionary but then it does not pretend to be.

Interspersed among the introductory chapters and profiles are over a dozen dramatic, full-page and two-page scenes, vividly capturing selected species in action. The illustrations are magnificent and there is over 300 of them but the layout is unusual to say the least - heads in seams, cut off’s etc – perhaps not the best way to showcase Raul Martins work but somehow it works.  The illustrations make the imagination work overtime as you read the fascinating descriptions and there is a size chart with a human silhouette giving the reader a reality as to the size of some of these dinosaurs. Some of the information on behaviours and adaptations are presented as facts when in actuality they are speculation.

Despite these minor whines it is a good book and will be well loved by dinosaur fanatics of both this age and younger.

We score this a -


2) Usborne Discovery Internet Linked Dinosaurs by Rachel Firth

Just because the title is “internet linked” does not mean you have to, whilst not the most detailed and comprehensive encyclopedia it is a fun read. Not too complicated for the average 9 year old, the illustrations are in keeping with many recognized ideas and these combined make it a good general information book.

The book takes us from a description of what dinosaurs are, to fossils and detectives, to food and the herbivores and carnivores, to senses, family groups, eggs and babies, the demise of the dinosaurs, today’s dinosaurs and latest discoveries.

Where this book does come into its own – is when you link to the internet, follow the links in the book which takes you to the Usborne website, from here select your country and then find the appropriate book (there are loads in the series). Each page has at least a couple of links some better than others. As long as proper internet guidelines are maintained this is an excellent book that can be taken to whatever level the child desires. Usborne states in the book that they will replace broken links with new ones and so far a link has not been broken for more than a day or two.

One criticism my son had of the book was the lack of help with pronunciation (he likes the brackets and guidance with how to read the long names), other than that he enjoyed the interaction through the internet. My big disappointment was the lack of link to “latest discoveries”, in the scheme of where you can go with this book a rather small gripe.

We score this a -