This week, the sprogs had a look at Dinosaurs Life Size by Darren Naish.
The Free-Ride offspring are, at eleven and nine, some years past maximum dinosaur enthusiasm.
Still, they have an appreciation for arresting pictures, interesting facts, and the scientific detective work that goes into reconstructing the details of dinosaurs’ anatomies and ways of life from the clues lurking in fossil remains.
The younger Free-Ride offspring says:
There are a lot of fossils in this book. How do you get those life size photos of dinosaurs?
I think it’s really cool how Liopleurodons left bite marks in fossils.
Sauroposeidon has huge eyes because of a huge face. And its name means “earthquake god lizard.”
My four-year-old cousin would enjoy a lot of these dinosaurs. He’d like how huge they are. And, he’d learn lots of facts about them. He’d learn where they were found in the world and how big they were.
The elder Free-Ride offspring says:
I found this book a bit monotonous and repetitive, mostly because I think it was written for a much younger audience. I think a 6-year-old or 7-year-old would really enjoy this book.
They would like the fold out flaps.
The book doesn’t really show skeletons, maybe because little kids would find them “scary”.
The book has nice computer generated pictures of dinosaurs. There are also photos of little kids making faces placed with the dinosaur pictures, creating the illusion of dinosaurs still being alive today.
The book has an interesting way of demonstrating the size of the dinosaurs, picking a body part to show “life size”.
There are lots of cool facts (like the fact that Iguanodon’s thumb was a remarkable weapon).
There’s also a dinosaur quiz in the back of the book (but it’s WAY to easy for a sixth grader).
The sprogs are correct. Their 4 year old cousin loves dinosaurs, especially the “scary skeletons.”
I bought that book for my young cousin (I believe he’s 9) for Christmas, hopefully it’s a hit with him too!