My Favorite Dinosaurs

MY FAVORITE DINOSAURS presents a child's world of all the classic dinosaurs from Tyrannosaurus Rex to Hadrosaurs along with dramatic new finds in John Sibbick's world-famous style. Simple text and design make the ideal 'first' dinosaur book for readers ages 3-6.

Grade 1-3–Sibbick's dramatic, realistic paintings present a "postcard album" of the artist's favorite dinosaurs, depicted in their prehistoric habitats while hunting, browsing, nesting, and rearing young. These superior illustrations are joined by boxes of brief text, providing nomenclature and a few facts about the featured creatures (including Archaeopteryx and Sarchosuchus, which is misleading because they are not dinosaurs), but the paintings are the raison d'être for this colorful compendium. A final section gives name pronunciations and definitions, and a list of weight, length, diet, era, and global distribution. Not as informative as David Lambert's detailed TheUltimate Dinosaur Book (DK, 1993) or Don Lessem's Scholastic Dinosaurs A to Z (Scholastic Reference, 2003), this will still attract visually oriented young dinophiles.–Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY
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Gr. 1-3. Sibbick is an acclaimed illustrator of dinosaurs, and, as can be expected, his images are the real stars here. Since the focus is on "favorite" dinosaurs, the approach is rather scattershot, featuring dinosaurs from many periods arranged in no discernable order. Short snippets of brisk, straightforward text explain a little about each dinosaur. Each illustration is rich in detail, and most of the double-page spreads feature the dinosaurs in action, often including scenes of the carnivorous creatures taking bites out of each other. Lush backgrounds and unusual angles add to the sense of immediacy in each of the pictures. Though not the best source for reports, this will be a browsing delight for dinosaur fans. Todd Morning
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