Review by Booklist Review
In this volume in the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series, Zoehfeld builds on children's fascination with dinosaurs by providing technical details about fossil tracks, including information about how they were formed and how some remained, buried underground for millions of years until the soil wore away to reveal them. The clear text is illustrated with informal, colorful spreads of kids at play on the beach where millions of years earlier dinosaurs may have splooshed through gloppy mud . . . leaving footprints behind them. It may be hard for kids to imagine a time span of more than 65 million years, but Zoehfeld brings perspective (millions of years before any people or any moose or any elephants ever lived ), and, with adult help, elementary-school readers will be able to handle the fascinating facts about the size of the tracks and what the tracks reveal about the dinosaurs that made them. Link this to the titles in the Read-alikes: Bone Hunters! on p.62.--Hazel Rochman Copyright 2006 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-3-At last, here's a book that answers the question, "How did those footprints get there?" in an easy, enjoyable format. The author makes the connection for readers by describing walking in sand or mud and the resultant trail left behind. Diagrams give a simple visual of what happened to dinosaur footprints to make them harden and fossilize. A brief introduction to dinosaur groups (theropods, ornithopods) and examples of specific dinosaurs (Tyrannosaurus rex, allosaur, sauropod) and the footprints they left behind are accompanied by beautiful, soft sunset-colored illustrations. This appealing book concludes with instructions for making fossil footprints or handprints. A great choice for even the most discriminating dinophiles.-Colleen D. Bocka, Nathaniel Rochester Community School, Rochester, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
(Primary) Zoehfeld introduces young readers to the important inferences about dinosaurs that can be drawn from their fossilized footprints. The narrative starts with accessible descriptions of how the footprints were formed, pulling readers in with appealing comparisons to walking on a beach themselves, and sensory descriptions of dinosaurs that ""splooshed through gloppy mud and wet sand."" An explanation of the processes of sedimentary rock and fossil formation is pitched at just the right level for younger readers and sets up a discussion of the work of scientists who study fossil tracks. The amazing amount of information revealed by these prints includes not only which dinosaurs made what tracks, but clues to dinosaur behavior. The number of prints and the shapes of the marks tell if they were made by carnivores or herbivores, and the size and depth of the fossil prints indicate the mass and size of the dinosaur that made it. The pastel-colored illustrations of peaceful-looking dinosaurs provide excellent details of both the dinosaurs and their tracks. The final pages feature a classic fossil-modeling activity that will help children understand the process. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Starting from a child's experience of leaving footprints in sand or mud, an experienced author-illustrator pair introduces young readers to the work of ichnologists studying fossilized dinosaur tracks. In this attractive addition to the long-running Let's Read-and-Find-Out Science series, gentle pastel illustrations accompany the relatively simple text to explain how such fossils are formed and demonstrate the differences among tracks and characteristics of three major dinosaur groups: therapods, ornithopods and sauropods. The language is appealing: dinosaurs "splooshed through gloppy mud and wet sand." Readers are directly addressed and invited to wonder about why some kinds of tracks are more common than others. A make-your-own fossil activity is appended to the text, but there is no glossary or pronunciation guide that might also help the intended reader. (Picture book/nonfiction. 5-9) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
