Meat-eating dinosaurs

Gr 3-5-This slender quartet introduces a variety of prehistoric critters of land, sea, and sky, ranging from Mosasaur to Allosaurus, and Pteranodon to Hypsilophodon. Most are given hides in the brilliant colors of tropical macaws, and all (even the herbivores) are shown in aggressive postures. The abbreviated text is limited to a brief paragraph, often accompanied by tiny, fictional vignettes and captions on the facing page. A number of suppositions are included, such as the statements that Dilophosaurus's crest grew brighter with age, and that Amargasaurus had "patches of dark skin." Location maps are provided, but the always-essential time line is nowhere to be found. This book is somewhat similar in scope to Robin Birch's less dramatic "Dinosaur World" series (Chelsea Clubhouse, 2002) and engineered for those not ready for the elegancies of Caroline Arnold's Pterosaurs: Rulers of the Skies in the Dinosaur Age (Clarion, 2004) or Christopher Sloan's How Dinosaurs Took Flight (National Geographic, 2005).-Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.