Review by Booklist Review
Continuing the format used in How the Sphinx Got to the Museum (2010), Hartland takes on a subject even more popular with young museumgoers: dinosaurs. At the Smithsonian's diplodocus exhibit, a guide explains how a dinosaur living more than 145 million years ago became a set of fossilized bones on display today. A boy's question about how the dinosaur actually got there sets the story in motion, and each double-page spread looks at the contribution of one or more people who worked on the project, beginning in 1923: the dinosaur hunter, paleontologists, excavators, movers, preparators, curator, night watchman, welders, riggers, exhibits team, cleaners, and museum director. The list grows with each turn of the page, though the wording of the phrases ( tripped over by the NIGHT WATCHMAN, / restored by the PREPARATORS and the PALEONTOLOGISTS ) changes each time. Nicely varied in composition, Hartland's naive paintings offer plenty of details for children to discover. The final spread offers additional information in smaller print. An effectively told story with classroom appeal.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
An efficient and entertaining mix of science, history, and humor, Hartland's follow-up to How the Sphinx Got to the Museum (2010) turns a young museum-goer's question-"So, how did the dinosaur actually get to the museum?"-into a multilayered explanation. As in the previous book, Hartland combines a "House That Jack Built" structure with playful typography and her always appealing naif aesthetic. Based on the true backstory of an 87-foot dinosaur skeleton on exhibit at the Smithsonian, Hartland's story begins with the drowning of an unlucky diplodocus. A bone catches the eye of a grizzled dinosaur hunter 145 million years later, setting in motion a fascinating chain of tasks that gets the fossil ready for its big museum unveiling. Readers meet paleontologists, excavators, preparators, riggers, and welders, with each profession getting an evocative typographic nameplate to heighten the cumulative fun ("Dinosaur Hunter" is in a Wild West typeface, while "Welders" looks like it's cut from steel). Hartland's spreads are impressively and often humorously detailed-from the tools and plans on the workroom walls to the Fig Newtons on the curator's desk. Ages 6-up. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 4-As she did in How the Sphinx Got to the Museum (Blue Apple, 2010), Hartland takes readers behind the scenes, this time at the Smithsonian Museum, as a newly discovered Diplodocus is unearthed in Utah, transported to Washington, DC, assembled, and prepared for display. On the opening spread, a docent shares general background information on the dinosaur exhibit as a young boy asks "So, how did the dinosaur actually get to the museum?" A second spread of vignettes covers the 65 million years of geologic change leading up to 1923, the year the fossil was discovered. A cumulative recitation of the story behind the exhibit completes the story line. From "dinosaur hunter" to "director," more than a dozen roles are described and then added to a growing list in a pattern mimicking the classic "The House That Jack Built." Each job is highlighted with a unique font and decorative text box evocative of the role. The illustrations are expressive, childlike cartoons but careful readers will find plenty to pore over. Back matter provides background on the particular dinosaur, the real people involved, stats on the Diplodocus, and web links to the museum and quarry, now known as Dinosaur National Monument. A clear explanation is never given for "double-beamed bones" in the background information but young dinosaur hunters won't be deterred.-Carol S. Surges, Longfellow Middle School, Wauwatosa, WI (c) Copyright 2011. 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 Kirkus Book Review
Diplodocus longus that lived 145 million years ago to its present home in the display halls of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. A companion to How the Sphinx Got to the Museum (2010), it similarly describes the work of many hands involved, here starting with the dinosaur hunter who discovered the bones and the paleontologist who went to Utah to identify them and culminating with the museum director who opened the exhibit. What's special is the reminder of the wide range of tasks involved. The excavators, movers, preparators, curator, night watchman, welders, riggers, exhibits team and cleaner all have their parts. Hartland emphasizes this with her House-That-Jack-Built text, in which each job title has a special capital-letter font, color and background ("CLEANERS" is shown on a scrubbing-brush background, for instance). Her verbs are interestingly varied, as are the many things these people do. The text is printed on double-page illustrations, painted in a childlike manner but detailed enough to show all the people and activities. Backmatter includes a bit of dinosaur information and more about the actual discovery and the display at the museum, including some suggested websites. An excellent complement to any dinosaur-book collection, this enriches and extends that interest. (Informational picture book. 6-10)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
