2 May 2018 ROAR: A DINOSAUR TOUR by Michael Paul, Crown BFYR, April 2018, 40p., ISBN: 978-1-5247-6698-6

“A vegetarian from the start,

she gobbled only greens.

She wasn’t good at running

or at making awkward scenes.

Her bones were bone and keratin,

her teeth not meant to bite.

So when she met a hungry Rex

she ofttimes lost the fight.”

-- Jane Yolen, “Tricera Blew Her Top” from LAST LAUGHS: PREHISTORIC EPITAPHS (2017)

“Millions of years ago, dinosaurs walked the Earth. There were many kinds of dinosaurs”

A couple of weeks ago, while on a trip back east, I visited the dinosaurs at the American Museum of Natural History. It was the first that I’d gotten to see the 122 foot-long Titanosaur, which has only been on exhibit for a couple of years. Other skeletons, I’ve seen repeatedly, beginning back in the Sixties, during an elementary school field trip there.

I’m still very excited to go visit the dinosaurs.

My experience as an early childhood educator and parent was that lots of young kids love dinosaurs. So many four- and five-year-olds become enthusiastic experts at dinosaur identification, the long names sliding smoothly off of their little tongues.

These are the kids who will spend lots of time paging through ROAR: A DINOSAUR TOUR.

ROAR contains a colorful selection of dinosaur illustrations, accompanied by simple facts that help compare and contrast the various species: “Some kinds of dinosaurs lived alone… [picture of Pelorplites] while others lived together in a family [picture of a Corythosaurus family].

Eighteen dinosaurs are identified and illustrated. The front endpapers contain headshots of these eighteen, and provide a pronunciation of each name. The back endpapers display the same eighteen headshots, this time with the English translations of the Greek and Latin names. Perhaps school and public librarians can make some provision to prevent some of these endpaper headshots from being obscured by a mylar-covered and taped dust jacket.

On the copyright page, the author/illustrator includes a brief note about the broad variety of colors he had employed in illustrating the various species. He also acknowledges Dr. Luis Chiappe, Director of the Dinosaur Institute at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County for his expertise.

This is one that lots of young kids won’t be able to get enough of. I know this firsthand, having permanently surrendered my copy to my five year-old grandson.

ROAR will be an excellent classroom or library addition and will also make a great gift.

Richie Partington, MLIS

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