Dinosaurs

Written by Penelope Arlon and Tory Gordon-Harris

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This is the kind of non-fiction book that boys (and girls) love. Lots of pictures, lots of facts in small bites, and all about a kid’s favorite subject: dinosaurs. Incorporating the latest scientific discoveries, this book attempts to organize the hundreds of known dinosaurs and what scientists have concluded about them. There is attention paid to recreating the time period in which the different species lived. Not only are there illustrations showing the plants and animals from the same time period, there are some prey/predator scenarios presented as well. Information about the history of paleontology is given and examples of how paleontologists do their work today. Special features include two time-lines, a pronunciation guide, a glossary and an index. There is a digital companion book at the publisher’s website. That book has its own content, interactive features and quizzes. The online illustrations are even more vivid than the ones in print.

This is a strictly for individual pleasure reading, which is especially true for the online feature. The loose organization allows for a freedom of discovery, but does not lend itself to literacy worksheets. The quizzes are straight-forward and the novelty of an online quiz is appealing. It has a challenging reading level and a fourth grader may need help with the vocabulary, but there are a lot of guides for definitions and pronunciation help. This is one of those books (and websites) that students will eagerly want to share with you and their friends. The link to the website is: http://www.scholastic.com/discovermore/, but there is a code required to get into the digital book found in the print source.

  • DinosaursTITLE: Dinosaurs
  • AUTHOR: Penelope Arlon and Tory Gordon-Harris
  • PUBLISHER: Scholastic
  • REVIEWER: Risa Brown
  • EDITION: Paperback and digital, 80 p. (plus 54 digital p.)
  • ISBN: 978-0-545-36572-7
  • LEXILE: 930

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