Why our Book of Dinosaurs will keep prehistoric passions alive in younger readers
Do your kids love Jurassic World Dominion and Prehistoric Planet? Then need to get them our new Book of Dinosaurs
This summer, plenty of children are enjoying a high-tech trip back into prehistory. Perhaps you and your kids are enjoying Apple TV+’s new David Atteborough digitally enhanced dinosaur documentary series, Prehistoric Planet; or your family might be heading to the cinema to see Jurassic World Dominion, the latest movie in the Jurassic Park franchise.
Both works are stunning evocations of the time when mighty lizards stalked the earth. However, if you want a longer standing, highly informative, physical memento of this period, you may want to consider getting a copy of Phaidon’s new Book of Dinosaurs.
Subtitled 10 Record-Breaking Prehistoric Animals, the author Gabrielle Balkan and illustrator Sam Brewster lead young readers through an incredible menagerie of prehistoric beasts, from the dinosaur with the toughest armour (the Ankylosaurus), though to the one with the sharpest eyesight (the Velociraptor) and the one with the noisiest call (the Parasaurolophus).
Pages from Phaidon's new Book of Dinosaurs
In this book there are well-known inclusions such as the Tyrannosaurus, as well as less-familiar species, like the Limusaurus, an ‘evolutionary head-scratcher’ as Balkan puts it, which was born with the body of carnivorous beast (including sharp teeth), but matured into a plant eater, with a beak rather than fangs.
In every instance, the words and pictures manage to shed light on these unusual and ancient creatures, while maintaining a sense of childlike wonder. Consider the Argentinosaurus, a massive herbivore who, in Balkan’s charming, first-person evocation of the beast writes “I stretched my 30-foot-long neck ahead of me so I could stand in one spot and still reach faraway plants. This helped me conserve energy while I filled up with 100,000 calories a day. That’s like you eating 13 birthday cakes . . . with frosting!”
Pages from Phaidon's new Book of Dinosaurs
Each dinosaur profile includes a depiction of their fossilised skeleton, as well as a rendering of what this beast might have looked like, then it lived on earth. Balkan consulted with a number of academic experts, to ensure all the claims made in the book are backed up with hard facts. The Book of Dinosaurs also tells readers where and when each of these animals lived; how today’s birds inherited aspects of dinosaurs’ descendants can be seen on earth today; and why our understanding of these animals is changing all the time, thanks to pioneering new research.
Phaidon's new Book of Dinosaurs
Both a fun, playful text, and a beautifully conceived and produced printed work, our Book of Dinosaurs is something parents and kids will return to again and again, once the blockbuster season has ended, and the autumn shows are on the streaming services. To find out more and order your copy go here.