Beginning and intermediate scroll sawers will enjoy creating and assembling these fun dinosaur puzzles. A discussion of different types of hardwood and tips for working with each helps craftspeople understand how to choose the perfect wood for each puzzle project. Patterns are divided by level of difficulty and include brontosaurus, stegosaurus, triceratops, tyrannosaurus rex, and many more. Also included is information about safety precautions, creating a safe workshop, and assembling the basic equipment to get started.

It's hard to imagine a more comprehensive or entertaining guide for budding paleontologists. More than 50 brief chapters are filled with intriguing historical information and practical hints (occasional punning chapter titles will no doubt provoke chuckles from children, such as "Pure Shellfishness" and "A Sedimental Journey"). Sidebars accompany many chapters, offering such tidbits as "every living thing--even you--is a little bit radioactive." All dinosaur names, as well as more technical words, are accompanied by concise explanations. The line illustrations present a wealth of paleontological lore in winning fashion. Eldredge p ere and his sons have "unearthed" a winner. Ages 7-12.

Gr 1-4-This idea-packed book focuses on animal life on Earth during the last 570 million years (the Cambrian period to the present), covering sea creatures, insects, dinosaurs, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals. In the first chapter, Press provides an introduction to how natural history is studied and explains basic vocabulary. Difficult concepts are simplified through the use of familiar examples. In one instance, directions for sorting buttons or other objects lead into a clear explanation of the animal classification scheme. The author uses a similar technique to move from a child's personal time line to a description of geologic time, complete with a rap song. Simple craft techniques (with appropriate safety warnings), such as making a climbing spider out of cardboard and pipe cleaners, are applied to learning facts about animals. Helpful sidebars include "Eco-Alerts" that discuss endangered species or taking care of the environment and "Curator's Notes" that define terms in a succinct manner. Satisfying black-and-white drawings supplement the activities and information. A list of museums along with their Web sites is appended. A worthwhile addition to natural-history sections.

Grade 5-7-Twenty easy experiments that demonstrate how paleontologists construct hypotheses about dinosaurs using the fragmentary clues left by fossils. For example, by burying a scale model of Compsognathus in a bucket of sand, kids can calculate what the model weighs, and then deduce the weight of the actual animal. The text is illustrated with simple black-and-white diagrams and drawings. Some of the activities here have appeared in other collections, such as Jerry Booth's The Big Beast Book (Little, 1988). Unlike that book, however, this title's instructional tone makes it unappealing for children to read from cover to cover. Best used as a resource for science-fair experiments or classroom demonstrations.

Developed with reading experts and leveled so parents can find the "Just Right" reader for their child. Kids get to stretch their minds and expand their critical thinking skills as they assemble this large 48-piece puzzle of dinosaurs through the ages. Includes fascinating dinosaur facts that children want to learn.

“This is a reassuring story for children experiencing the problem [of bedwetting]. Short sentences. . . pair well with McQuillan’s softly colored artwork. It’s through the illustrations that the emotional aspects of Dippy’s dreams are revealed. Pictures done with sweeping brushstrokes give his bedroom a homey look, and children will enjoy searching for a small Woodstock-like creature that’s tucked into many of them.”

Allosaurus! The Life and Death of Big Al is the saga of a male Allosaurus whose remains were recently discovered in Wyoming. Remarkably, his skeleton was found intact, allowing scientists to re-create the events of his life. In a lively mix of science and stunning visual images, Allosaurus follows the Allosaurus's tough life from his early days trying to beat out bigger dinosaurs for food to the fierce battles he fought as a teen. Sidebars throughout the book reveal how paleontologists solved the mysteries revealed by his bones.

Kindergarten-Grade 4–Informational tidbits appear alongside exquisitely designed pop-up constructions in this visually stunning overview of all things dinosaur. Each spread features a spectacular paper sculpture of a particular species (e.g., Ankylosaurus or Triceratops) along with a brief paragraph of text. Smaller foldout sections, which open like miniature books and also incorporate pop-ups, cover additional topics (Dinosaur Detectives and Mystery Extinction) and introduce other dinosaurs and their characteristics. Rendered in warm earth tones and speckled with splashes of color, the three-dimensional creatures move with a life of their own as they gracefully extend their bodies into a full stretch or lurch toward readers with jaws open wide. Be forewarned: the book is so enticing that children will find it impossible to keep their hands off it, possibly causing problems with the delicate pop-ups.

Grade 1-5–This companion to Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Dinosaurs (Candlewick, 2005) uses equally amazing pop-up illustrations to introduce a fascinating array of ancient sea creatures. From the creepy-crawly invertebrates of the Paleozoic Era to the toothy reptiles of the Mesozoic to the mammoth mammals of the Cenozoic, the enjoyably chatty text offers brief sketches of the changing environment and its inhabitants. The colorful spreads feature large, often breathtaking paper-engineered renderings of prehistoric species, supplemented by smaller, booklike foldouts that provide additional information along with more visual fireworks. Readers will meet a feisty pterygotus (a lobster look-alike that grew to seven feet), an eight-ton sarcosuchus (a crocodilian with a horrendous overbite, and…nearly 100 teeth, some the size of railroad spikes!), and a massive megalodon (a shark ancestor with jaws that could open wide enough to swallow a hippopotamus whole). Spectacular effects include a three-dimensional kronosaurus skeleton with intricately sculpted vertebrae, tinted plastic inserts that evoke murky underwater scenes, and an action-packed, pop-up battle between two long-necked behemoths. There is not much detail here, but the authors do include amusing tidbits about outlandish fossil hunters and references to legendary monsters (Kraken, giant sea snakes, etc). Fun from cover to cover, this attention-grabbing offering will captivate readers, despite its delicate structure and limited shelf life.

From water "woodlice" as big as a platter to Diplocaulus with boomerang-shaped heads, from the colossal titanosaur to Neanderthal "cave people," the world of prehistoric animals is mind-boggling. Budding young paleontologists will find everything they need to know to begin their studies with Dorling Kindersley's impressive Dinosaur Encyclopedia and Dinosaur Hunter CD-ROM. Divided into four sections--Fish and Invertebrates, Amphibians and Reptiles, Dinosaurs and Birds, and Mammals and Their Ancestors--the thick volume describes just what kinds of critters have walked, swum, slithered, and flown the earth. Breathtaking photographs, realistic models, and full-page reconstructions of prehistoric environments allow the reader to enter the mysterious landscapes of these ancient behemoths, while comprehensive and easy-to-use text explores how animals evolved, how scientists find and use fossils, and when, where, and how various creatures lived and died. A timeline bar enables readers to determine the geological era in which a given animal lived, fact boxes provide a quick profile of the main creature featured in each animal entry, and a large reference section provides a fossil timeline, paleontological processes, biographies of leading scientists, and tips for the amateur fossil hunter. Wow! All this, and fun to read, too! (Ages 8 and older)