Dinosaur Books

I've bought other Walter Foster books on how to draw Disney characters and they were all very good. This book is very helpful as well, with pencil sketches of all the characters, from Aladar to the raptors. Though I'm disappointed there weren't more pages and hints, it was very good. The drawings may seem a little wierd because the characters are CGI, but it's worth the buy.

This is a very cool book! It is very detailed with three to four steps for every character and it gives you a color giude for each character. What's cool about this book is that it gives you neat drawing tips all along the way on every page. I would recomend this to anyone, especially if you want to learn how to draw dinosaurs.

This book is a really terrific idea. I am disappointed that there are over two million other books which are purchased more frequently than this one, according to Amazon.com -- it just doesn't seem right.

Querida Pearce has done a great deal of work, in compiling this amazing little volume. Conversations about dinosaurs are one of the few areas where adults and children can really be complete equals together, sharing in a state of wonder. Actually, as often as not, the adults are at a disadvantage here. Children often know MUCH more than the less age-challenged, height-challenged members of their families, about this fascinating topic. Therefore, to help adults bridge this unfortunate gap, Ms. Pearce has created this guide.

Let me just briefly mention that this book came out a couple of years before the film "Jurassic Park." It happens that some of the dinosaurs featured in that film were almost completely unknown, to most folks, before the film came out. Velociraptors, in particular, are only mentioned in passing in "How to Talk Dinosaur With Your Child." And the Tyrannosaurus Rex is always referred to by its full name, never as a "T. Rex." But those are small complaints, of course. This book is basically superb, and has been highly praised by curators at museums featuring paleontology exhibits.

Here are some particularly fun features of this book. In Chapter 8, the author talks about how you could prepare for a visit to a dinosaur museum with your children. She helps you get thinking about how you could create a dinosaur diorama, for example, to help your kids understand how the displays in the museum are made. In Chapter 11, there's a great little section about dinosaur names. It gives handy definitions of all the little Latin and Greek prefixes, suffixes, and other roots which go into composing the names of dinosaurs. You can even use this section to start making up dino-names for family, friends, or pets. For example, if you have a dog with very triangular ears, and a short tail, you could take the roots "spheno" (wedge shaped); "oto" (ear); "micro" (small); and "urus" (tail), and start calling your dog Sphenooto Microurus. This is how scientists really name dinosaurs! You and your children can share a lot of laughs with this section.

The whole book is packed with ideas for dinner table discussions, or for talking about during agonizingly long car rides. For example, Ms. Pearce encourages readers to think about the devastation that would be left behind if a herd of diplodoci crashed through the local jungle. She suggests going to the library, and seeking out accounts of how African jungles have sprung back after rampages by groups of elephants. The whole book is full of suggestions like this. They go on, page after page after page. I don't know how she thought up so many great ideas.

As I said earlier, some parts of this book are realy designed to help adults catch up to their kids, who are most likely miles ahead of them in their knowledge of dino-lore. But the focus is on finding common ground, and things to share wonder about. This book is actually about real wonder, real scientific discovery, and real fun. This book represents what learning really should be like, although of course it rarely actually is.

If you enjoy this fine little volume, I would like to recommend "After Man: A Zoology of the Future," by Dougal Dixon, which is also incredibly fun and interesting. It gets kids asking "what if" we could see into the future, and visualize how present animals might evolve in coming millenia? It has amazing pictures, and provocative essays. Also, you may wish to take a look at "Our Continent: A Natural History of North America," by National Geographic. They did a great job with that book, and it includes actual charts so you can see how various dinosaurs evolved. Also, just a slightly oddball recommendation: I really enjoyed the book "When Geologists Were Historians," by Rhoda Rappaport. It helps you see what early scientists were up against, when they tried to get people to conceptualize the idea that rocks were laid down in layers, some of which contained dinosaur bones.

Anyway, "How to Talk Dinosaur With Your Child" is superb. You owe it to your kids, or maybe even to a co-workers kids, to pick up a copy of this book.

If your children or even you just love the subject of prehistoric beings you definitely have to have this book. Do not let its size fool you, for in it, you not only ge t to read about every dino known to man, but also activities that children can engage themselves with their parents. The Humongous Book contains 3D pages through wich your child and yourselve can be transported to the Paleolithic times of these giants and what their view of Earth was to them during the time they walked on it. It is definitely a book to have for your children or even yourself if you caught dinomania!

A great book for young dinosaur lovers! The pictures are very realistic and extremely detailed, therefore generate many questions from curious dino-philes. For parents, it's an interesting read, as well.
Text on each page is limited, yet descriptive. A great book for emerging readers to "read" back to parents and siblings.
I have been so impressed with this book, I have purchased others in the series.

This colorful, imaginative book is a wonderfully creative work for young dinosaur admirers. My son is passionate about dinosaurs and loves this book. It is often his first choice for bedtime reading. The author and illustrator are well-matched and provide fast moving text, vivid pictures and a story line that a child can relate to and let his imagination run wild with, "I am an Ankylosaurus. Look into my eyes and see what I see...."

One day Danny went to the museum, where he saw Indians, Bears and Eskimos, guns, swords and dinosaurs. Danny loves dinosaurs and wishes he had one and all of a sudden he does. At first he believes the dinosaur he sees isn't real, but it is. The dinosaur lowers his head, Danny climbs on and they are off on an adventure. As they stroll through the city the dinosaur thinks the buildings are rocks, but Danny sets him straight. They surprise a policeman by stopping at a red light. They help people across the street, even carry and old woman's bags. However, as the story draws to a close, Danny realizes he can't keep the Dinosaur and so his new friend goes off alone into the sunset.

This is a book for beginning readers. The words are simple, grammar too. It's a cute little story, guaranteed to keep your toddler interested, so much better than the "See Spot Run" kind of early readers. If you want your child reading before Kindergarten, and I do, then this book and books like it are very good additions to your toddlers reading arsenal.

Jack Priest, Dad in Training

Right from the cover my students will be entranced with this book. It has a combination of realistic drawings and cartoons. "Amazing facts" are placed on the borders to add to the fun. Now and then there appear true/false cartoons for the parent and child to decide upon and then check their answers. This book also shows children comparative sizes---we humans would have reached only to ankles of an Ultrasauros. The colorful drawings and data are super. I also thought the last two pages used as glossary was a good idea. This book will be great to use in my year's beginning theme of Dinosaurs.

My 3 yr old loves this book. He loves to hear the story and the pictures are eye-catching. There's an adorable little snail that's hidden on each page and my son just thinks it's the neatest thing finding the snail each time we read the book together. I definitely recommend this book for any dinosaur lovin' toddler!

I don't rate anything 5 stars lightly.

This simple, short story (full double-page drawings with some text) is about a girl somewhere around 7 years old who imagines how fun it would be to have a gigantic dinosaur. She could walk past the scary neighbor dog, who wouldn't dare bother her with a big dinosaur by her side. She could ride it and get to school faster than the school bus. Her whole class could ride on its back on field trips. And more.

What I like about the book is the engaging pictures really grab kid's attention. The artwork is attractive. The situations are fun. It's easy to imagine being a kid reading (or listening) to this book.

I wish there was a series of these stories, though it would probably be difficult to dream up several other books as creative as this one.