Today, dinosaurs are big business. Stuffed dinosaurs fill the aisles of toy stores, cartoon characters are dinosaurs or dinosaur clones and they fill the pages of children's books.
Dinosaurs are exciting! They are big and powerful and have the stature that children wish for. Aside from there being many dinosaur goodies for a young child to beg for, there is so much to learn about dinosaurs. And children learn millenniums faster than parents who struggle and flounder just to pronounce dinosaur names.
The books written on dinosaurs are endless. For years, the books were strictly for older non-fiction child audience. They now come in every shape, size, age range, and genre imaginable...which is great because most every child seems interested.
Byron Barton, master of books for the young child, has just come out with a dinosaur book that is accessible to toddlers. Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs has bold graphics, bright colors and an extremely readable text which describes dinosaurs that are big, small, horned, armored, and tired. For the more technically-minded the inside covers describe the beasts with names and pronunciation. Ages 2-4. (Harper and Row, $13.95)
For the rhyme and rhythm loving young counter, there's Nancy Blumenthal's Count-A-Saurus. Author and illustrator stay true to natures and traits of the dinosaurs, but add comic present-day playfulness. Many of the dinosaurs pictured are quite the individuals; an Ankylosaurus wears a football helmet and the Stegosaurus suns with sunglasses. For the more serious dinosaur devotee, each page becomes a point of departure in the "Append-a-saurus", making this a book that can support a variety of ages. Ages 2-6. ($12.95, Four Winds Press)
The EyeOpeners series has a volume entitled Dinosaurs perfectly made for young dino fans. The book is a mix of familiar and unfamiliar dinosaurs and each page has a bit of information in large print with a large illustration of the dinosaur that looks like a photo. Smaller diagrams detail some specifics. Ages 3-6. (Aladdin Books, $6.95)
Dinosaurs naturally seem to make people wonder. Their "what if's" have led to several wonderful stories about dinosaurs in relationships with people. In Carol Carrick's Patrick's Dinosaurs, (Clarion, $4.95, $13.95) Older brother Hank is an informed dinosaur aficionado and younger brother, Patrick, is an impressionable imaginer. Carrick's weaving of dinosaur fact and story is so popular with the younger crowd that it occasioned a sequel, What Happened To Patrick's Dinosaurs? Both available in paperback and hardcover. Ages 4-7. (Tichnor, $12.95, Clarion, $4.95)
The Carrick's book, Big Old Bones, is a spoof of paleontologists errors. Professor Potts finds some huge old bones and assembles them in different ways, the last being the strangest (and funniest) of all. Amusing ideas and illustrations combine to help children laugh at the history of dinosaurs and see how errors might have happened. Ages 4-7. (Clarion, $13.95)
In Dinosaur Bob, the Lazardo family on safari from their home in Pimlico Hills finds a dinosaur that looks their Uncle Bob. And so begins the story of warm intimacy between family and dinosaur and the best baseball player the Pimlico Pirates ever had. Glowing green predominates illustrations by author-artist William Joyce who allows us glimpses of early baseball years in America. Ages 4-6. (Harper and Row, $12.95)
Dinosaurs can be found in a variety of locales. Henry Schwartz's How I Captured a Dinosaur tells the story of Liz Bradford who finds her Albertosaurus while camping with her family in Baja. Illustrations by Amy Schwartz show both the warmth and the humor of the situation. Ages 4-6. (Orchard, $12.95)
Time Train by Paul Fleischman tells of a whole train of children who travel from New York to Utah's Dinosaur National Monument via the Rocky Mountain Unlimited. Watching through the windows the children and teacher realize that they are traveling across time as well as across country. Among dinosaurs they scramble breakfast from one dino egg, study stegosaurus's eating habits from one's back and take aerial photos from the back of a pterodactyl. Full of fantasy and fun with a story to set children imagining other adventures. Ages 4-7. (HarperCollins, $14.95)
Liza Donnelly's Dinosaurs' Halloween shows us a charming dinosaur who one Halloween befriends a small costumed dinosaur-lover. When the boy is hassled by bullies, the dinosaur summons his friends to help. Ages 3-6. (Scholastic,$12.95, $2.50) The two protagonists are united in several sequels one of which is entitled, Dinosaur Beach. ($12.95)
One of the strongest "what if" dinosaur books has to be Hudson Talbott's We're Back! The main character is a Tyrannosaurus who is captured with others by a space creature, fed a megavitamin, and transported to the 20th Century. What results is a humorous havoc enhanced by Talbott's wild illustrations. Ages 4-8. (Crown,$12.95)
Bernard Most also writes a "what if" comparing dinosaurs to modern images in his latest dinosaur picture book, Dinosaur Cousins (Harcourt, Brace and Jovanovich, $13.95) His simple stories and bright illustrations can also be enjoyed in If the Dinosaurs Came (HBJ, $3.95) and Whatever Happened to Dinosaurs? (HBJ, $3.95)
A childless couple finally finds happiness when the discover The Dinosaur Eggs in a story by Francis Mosley. The much-loved dino children yield a series of laughable result in their attempts to grow like normal children. Ages 4-7. (Barron's, $9.95)
Dinosaurs are so loved by all that they can give additional meaning to a book. One of the best bully stories I've ever read is Hans Wilhelm's Tryone the Horrible. Boland, a small dinosaur, is plagued by the monstrous Tyrone. Finally after attempts of extending friendship and fighting, Boland finally triumphs over Tyrone by wit. It is by no accident that Tyrone is pictured as a Tyrannosaurus Rex, a perfect image for this kind of menacing strong-arm. Characterizations of dinosaurs are as much fun as the drama created by their actions. Ages 2-8. (Scholastic, $10.95)
Tyranosaurus Rex is also the bully villan in Lorinda Bryan Cauley's The Trouble With Tyrannosaurus Rex. Two young dinosaur friends, Duckbill and Ankylosaurus, mastermind a plot to preserve the tranquility of their lives by undoing the Tyrannosaurus Rex. The characters don't have human names and although they subdue their tormentor with wit and cooperation, the methods are not superheroic, but something the dinosaurs might have achieved. Ages 3-6. (Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, $13.95)
Author illustrator Marc Brown and his wife Laurene have chosen to use dinosaurs for two books they have written for children. First released was Dinosaurs Divorce (Little Brown, $13.95, $4.95)which is the most empowering book on this subject that I have ever seen. Marc Brown had to realize that children both loved dinosaurs and that dinosaurs would provide just the proper distancing and humor his readers needed. This summer, vacationers might also enjoy the Browns' most recent Dinosaurs Travel. (Little Brown, $13.95)
Non-fiction books about dinosaurs seem to predominate children's books, the fiction approach is newer. And even more different are "faction" books that blend the two. Jim Murphy's The Last Dinosaur is the imagined story of what life was like for one of the last Triceratops who lived. Illustrations by Mark Alan Weatherby are amazingly realistic and give reader a strong sense of what the world felt like. We also feel the emotions of this dinosaur who fights for her own life and the life of her offspring. Ages 5-10. (Scholastic, $13.95)
Author-illustrator Dennis Nolan weaves fact and fiction in Dinosaur Dream, the story of dinosuar-loving Wilbur who wakes one night to see a small lost Apatosaurus outside his window. The young boy names him Gideon after Gideon Mantell the man who discovered the first dinosaur fossil and decides to aid him in returning to the Jurrassic period. Thus begins a journey across time and dinos where facts and feelings are combined with magnificent illustrations that make the pre-historic ages come alive. Ages 4-8. (Macmillan, $2.95))
One of the best non-fiction writers for the young is author-illustrator Gail Gibbons. Her clear, precise, Dinosaurs describes numerous types, history, paleontologists and fossils. Ages 4-6. (Holiday House,$12.95, $5.95)
Aliki has done a clear understandable three book non-fiction series about dinosaurs. Digging Up Dinosaurs,(Harper and Row, $12.88, $3.95) Dinosaur Bones, (H&R, $12.95) and Dinosaurs are Different (H&R, $4.95)She gives simple presentation of facts in the text and then fills each page with different almost parenthetical facts in her drawings. The drawings are many times humorous and act as a subplot to balance the more serious fact giving. Ages 4-8 (Harper and Row, Crowell, $12.95, )
Many times children hit dinosaur-loving years as they are approaching reading. It is very satisfying to read a book that has a strong interest base. Two I-Can-Read dinosaur books worth recommending are Dinosaur Days by Joyce Milton (Random House, $6.99, $2.95) Dinosaur Time by Parish (Harper and Row, $2.95) and Danny and the Dinosaur (Harper and Row, $9.95, $3.50) by Syd Hoff.
An older Dinosaur appreciator will revel the information of two books by Newberry-award author Patricia Lauber. In The News About Dinosaurs, (Bradbury, $14.95( she tells of the latest new discoveries about dinosaurs. Implicit in this telling is an examination of how scientific views can change. In Dinosaurs Walked Here, Lauber talks about our earth as a giant diary that has recorded in it the history of the world. The photographs are beautiful and the sense of discovery is exciting to read about. (Bradbury Press, $15.95) Both for 5-12 year old readers.
Dinosaur Mountain: Graveyard of the Past (Clarion, $14.95) and Trapped in Tar ( Tichnor and Fields, $12.95) by Caroline Arnold with photographs by Richard Hewett tell the stories of Dinosaur National Monument and the Le Brea Tar Pits, respectively. Both will excite you to want to embark on dinosaur explorations this summer. Ages 7-12. Summer seems a great time for experiencing dinosaurs. The Big Beast Book: Dinosaurs and How They Got That Way by Jerry Booth is a perfect book to facilitate first hand understandings of times, sizes, and other dinosaur traits through puzzles, games and experiment. Ages 7-12. (Little Brown and Company, $14.95)
Dinosaurs have infiltrated not only every nook and cranny of children's lives, but also every genre of their books. There are poetry books. Irreverent and popular poet Jack Prelutsky, for example, has written poems about fourteen dinosaurs in Tyrannosaurus Was A Beast. His poems give a sense of dinosaurs and they are pictorially well-illustrated by Arnold Lobel. Ages 5-10. (Greenwillow, $11.95)
One of my favorite novels this year is Pam Conrad's My Daniel. The story is told in flashbacks by a grandmother who has come to show her grandchildren the dinosaur bones discovered by her brother who died early in life. The story is filled with fantastic characters, lovely bits of philosophy, strong relationships, the excitement of a protagonist that is filled with a passion for fossils, and a gripping, fast-moving plot. Ages 9-12. (Harper and Row, $12.95)