Author(s): Christopher Sloan
Format: Hardback
No. of Pages: 32
Publisher: National Geographic Kids
Language: English
Date Published: 2008-10-28
Dimensions: 225 x 230 x 8mm
Publication City/Country: Washington, DC, United States
Edition:
Illustrations: 20 COLOR PHOTOS 20 ILLUSTRATIONS

With state-of-the-art, digitally modelled images, fantastic photos of fossils, and up-to-date scientific interpretations, Bizarre Dinosaurs introduces dino-lovers to a group of very strange creatures indeed.


The cast of characters includes Masiakasaurus, a fierce some beats whose mouth bristled with serrated, slightly hooked, forward-poking teeth; Deinocheirus with his ungainly long arms and huge triple claws; Epedendrosaurus with a tiny body and pinkie fingers as long as his arms; and flat-faced Dracorex hogwartsia, the "dragon king of Hogawarts", named after Harry Potter's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Palaeontologist Josh Smith uses clear and informed text to tell kids what we know and what we are still guessing about this collection of odd-looking monsters, including how scientists think they used their individual bizarre characteristics. In his introduction, life-long dinosaur enthusiast John Updike gives young readers a new perspective on the sheer weirdness of dinosaurs by turning our relationship with hem on its head: "That thin and featherless skin, that dish-flat face, that limp upright stance, those fleeable clawless five digits at the end of each limb, that ghastly utter lack of tail-ugh.