Dinosaurs Are Not Extinct: Real Facts about Real Dinosaurs

Why pine for prehistoric predators when their direct descendants are perching on the nearest birdbath? (Informational picture book. 5-9)

Copyright 2020 Kirkus Reviews, LLC Used with Permission

This informative and engaging nonfiction picture book, created with font and dialogue balloons that give it an accessible, comics-like style, is sure to captivate young dinosaur fans with the facts and history behind dinosaurs and their feathery modern relatives: birds. The narrator's voice strikes a straightforward yet droll tone ("It was the end of the Cretaceous period and the age of the dinosaurs. OR WAS IT?"). Intricately detailed illustrations depict dinosaurs and birds as pin-eyed, crosshatched, and richly colored beings, providing engrossing accompaniments to the text, while speech bubbles add comedy ("Yum! Fried dinosaur!" says a scientist holding a chicken leg). Hand this to up-and-coming paleontologists as well as kids who are curious about the Earth's gradual development. Back matter includes a timeline depicting highlights of avian history. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)

K-Gr 4--Sheneman infuses this work with characteristic cartoon style and jokes. The illustrations depict striped and spotted dinosaurs coexisting until an asteroid strikes Earth, causing mass extinctions. But, as scientists have discovered, not all dinosaurs died. According to the text, "But while the big dinosaurs were no longer the planet's dominant form of life--mammals now hold that title--many dinosaurs survived." Today, they are birds. Effective spreads show the evolution of theropods, such as Tyrannosaurus rex, to birds. A helpful time line provides "Highlights of Avian History," from the Jurassic period to the Quaternary period. Sheneman points out similarities in behavior, including hunting and nesting, and illustrates where humans encounter dinosaurs today. The text uses understated humor; for example, the asteroid strike is described as "a very bad day for the dinosaurs." But a major source of the fun comes from dialogue expressed by the animals, such as a bird warning a cat to stay away from the birdbath because its cousin was a velociraptor. Even children who are too young to appreciate the dry humor will remember the narrative's central thesis. VERDICT This light-hearted approach to dinosaur evolution will work well as a read-aloud introduction to the topic.--Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State Univ. Lib., Mankato