Dinosaur Bones

Starred review from July 9, 2001
The creator of Dem Bones
digs up another set of rattling fine specimens for this splashy expedition into the world of fossils. A simple poem ("Dinosaurs are gone for good./ Maybe dinosaurs once lived in your neighborhood!") serves as an umbrella framework for a lesson on prehistoric favorites. Each turn of the page pairs a single stanza in hand-lettered type ("Dinosaurs had teeth to bite and jaws to chew") with an accompanying illustration, while a bite-size piece of additional information in smaller type helps extend the book's appeal to older readers ("The shape of the jaws and teeth help scientists find out if a dinosaur was a meat or plant eater"). The snappy, vigorous rhymes ("They had bones with disks and bones with points,/ bones for running with sockets and joints") propel the production forward, while the artwork, a jazzy blend of pen-and-ink, watercolor, cut and torn paper and computer graphics, creates a tantalizing blend of streamlined shapes and saturated colors. Barner shows each spotlighted dinosaur in both skeletal and living form, and two concluding spreads offer more information in a height chart and "dinometer" chart, fleshing out such questions as "What did it eat?" and "What does its footprint look like?" A splendid introduction to a perennially popular subject. Ages 2-8.

September 1, 2001
PreS-Gr 1-In a mode similar to Byron Barton's cheerful Bones, Bones, Dinosaur Bones (HarperCollins, 1990), Barner focuses on the bones themselves (and their fleshy coverings) rather than on their collection. Fancifully created in colorful paper collages, the creatures romp and galumph across the pages to the measure of the simple, rhyming text (bolstered by snippets of facts in a smaller font). A few extra pages of brief data on size, weight, favored comestibles, etc., will be helpful to parents and teachers. However, eagle-eyed dinophiles will be quick to point out that Barner's Brachiosaurus lacks the extra-long forelegs common to its kind, as they enjoy the bouncy rhythms and ebullient artwork.-Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY

Copyright 2001 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2001
Ages 3-7. Barner's engaging book features an irresistibly appealing jacket, vibrant illustrations, and parallel texts for children of different ages. For the youngest listeners, one line of a rhymed couplet appears on each double-page spread, while below it are two or three sentences of dinosaur facts in smaller type, to be read to kids with a slightly longer attention span. The text is interesting, though not memorable. The real draw here is the artwork: computer-enhanced collages of cut-and-torn papers heightened with watercolors and pen and ink. Electric color combinations animate Barner's imaginative, large-scale pictures of dinosaurs and dinosaur bones. Colorful charts on the final spreads show relative sizes of different species of dinosaurs and identify basic information about them, such as length, weight, diet, and shape of footprint. Add this to the surprisingly short list of nonfiction dinosaur books that are accessible to young children.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2002
On each double-page spread, a simple and forced rhyming text accompanies colorful, bold cut- and torn-paper collages and paragraphs of general information about dinosaurs. The differing text approaches allow readers to choose how much they want to explore, but meaning is sometimes sacrificed for rhyme, and the combination gives the book a scattered feel.

(Copyright 2002 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)