The Early Cretaceous: Notes, Drawings, and Observations from Prehistory

Gr 3–6—Similar in tone to Henry Gee and Luis V. Rey's fictional A Field Guide to the Dinosaurs: The Essential Handbook for Travelers in the Mesozoic, this so-called journal includes facts and a great deal of guesswork. Presented as a paleontologist or explorer's field notebook, with color-washed pen and ink drawings, it is a "record of sightings and observations" during the early Cretaceous period. There's a bit of speculation here. For example, do we know Acrocanthosaurus was "solitary, very aggressive"? Probably the latter, as it was a large theropod, but did it "attack prey by biting the hindquarters"? It was found in Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming; was in the family Charcharodontosauridae; was big; and might very likely have looked like the tawny-washed illustrations and sketches stretching over four pages. But for young readers, this commingling of definitive fact and speculation can be misleading. However, the attractive design will spark children's imaginations.