Review for "Prehistoric Actual Size"

Bibliography: Jenkins, Steve. 2005. Prehistoric Actual Size. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN: 9-780618-53578-1

Critical Analysis

Did you know that the "terror bird" lived three million years ago, stood eight feet tall, and could run as fast as a present day horse? Or, that the largest arthropod ever to live on land was a giant millipede that lived about 300 million years ago and grew to six and a half feet? Or, that once there were dragonflies the size of seagulls? In Steve Jenkins book, Prehistoric Actual Size you not only learn these fascinating facts, but you get to see pictures of the creatures in their actual size (or at least parts of them!).

The size of this large book alone, will interest young (and possibly older!) readers; but the artwork that composes the pictures of the prehistoric creatures is compelling and worthy of notice in and of itself. The layout is simple, with papercut pictures of prehistoric animals against a white background. The information provided alongside the pictures is concise and informative, it informs without boring or being verbose. At the end of the text, the animals are presented in their entirety in smaller pictures in the same order they were presented in the book, and additional information is provided for the curious reader.

Jenkins was clever in deciding which portions of the animals to show when it came to animals that were to large to fit on the entire page. For instance, when it came to the "Baryonyx," which translates to "heavy claw," he showed a picture of a Baryonyx's claw on the double spread, with the caption, "This fish-eating dinosaur used its huge claws to help catch and hold its slippery prey." And the picture of "Gigantasauraus" is simply a double spread of the monsters enormous teeth - well, some of them!

In a world of dinosaur books, this book highlights not only the popular dinos, but also other prehistoric creatures. And the method that is used is a creative one that will help sear information into young minds!

Review Excerpts

School Library Journal: "The largest animal shown is also the most dramatic: the top and bottom teeth of Giganotosaurus fill an entire spread. Sure to elicit plenty of Wows from the 560's aisle."

Booklist: "The dramatic effect of showing creatures at their actual size is even greater this time than in the first book, which featured contemporary animals. It's certainly hard to imagine that a three-inch shark, a dragonfly with a two-foot wingspan, and a six-foot millipede once actually lived on Earth. Information about and an illustration of the entire creature (not to scale) completes this colorful volume."

Awards
Orbis Pictus Honor Book, 2005
Horn Book, Best Book of 2005

Connections

I cannot help but think of how much fun it would be to actually make some of these animals! Making the animals out of paper towel rolls, toilet paper rolls, and other recyclable materials, and then using paper mache to cover them, and finally painting them, would not only be fun, the kids could then have their own "museum" exhibit.