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Discovery Channels Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Predators
Zenescope's second book in its new, all-ages imprint, Silver Dragon Books,takes you on an adventure back in time with Discovery Channel's Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Predators. Nothing captures the imagination of kids likethe prehistoric world of Dinosaurs, and this book features all their favorites!Velicoraptors, Triceratops, and T-Rex all come to life in this exciting andgroundbreaking new graphic novel!
- GenresDinosaursNonfiction
120 pages, Paperback
First published April 12, 2011
24 people want to read
About the author
Neo Edmund
61 books114 followersNEO EDMUND (Writers Guild of America-West) actor turned best-selling author, screenwriter, and comic book writer began his career as a Hollywood actor appearing on numerous television shows, most notably on 150 episodes of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers Zeo and Turbo A Power Rangers Movie. Opting to pursue his passion for writing he transitioned into the creative side of the film and TV industry. He is currently authoring his 'Red Riding Alpha Huntress Series' and writing multiple Power Rangers novels for Penguin/Random House.
http://www.neoedmund.com
NEO ON IMDB:
http://www.imdb.me/neoedmund
AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE http://amazon.com/author/neoedmund
http://www.neoedmund.com
NEO ON IMDB:
http://www.imdb.me/neoedmund
AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE http://amazon.com/author/neoedmund
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 22, 2017
I really enjoy the line of Discovery Channel graphic novels. This one focused on Dinosaurs. Some of the information I was familiar with, but I also learned a lot of new facts as well. The art in most cases was very lush and beautiful and really did a good job of giving a visual of prehistoric times. If you know someone who is into Dinosaurs this is great read for them. If they like Dinosaurs AND graphic novels, this is perfect.
December 9, 2021
(3 of 5 for underperforming dino educational comics)
Yes, this is for kids/teens, I understand that. But that doesn't mean it can underperform.
The first thing is Ten years (since release 2011) is a long time in this field of science, especially if you don't base your work on current research/consensus in that field. So now it feels more like comics from '90. Some things are especially simplified and dumbed down even for kids comics. Not sure if the reason is the comics targets the USA readers (guessing from using those silly imperial units...), but the result must be weird for both knowledgeable and new to the dinos kids. Too little (and different, in the wrong way) for one and not enough for the other.
This comic credits many authors and artists, way too much for 120 pages. Well, sometimes there is no strength in legion, merely the weakness. So this feels more like Frankenstein's monster than a coherent educative and fun material for kids/teens (and dinosaurs' suckers).
Note: on my scale, it's clear 3/5, but in the GR measure the 2 stars are more adequate.
Yes, this is for kids/teens, I understand that. But that doesn't mean it can underperform.
The first thing is Ten years (since release 2011) is a long time in this field of science, especially if you don't base your work on current research/consensus in that field. So now it feels more like comics from '90. Some things are especially simplified and dumbed down even for kids comics. Not sure if the reason is the comics targets the USA readers (guessing from using those silly imperial units...), but the result must be weird for both knowledgeable and new to the dinos kids. Too little (and different, in the wrong way) for one and not enough for the other.
This comic credits many authors and artists, way too much for 120 pages. Well, sometimes there is no strength in legion, merely the weakness. So this feels more like Frankenstein's monster than a coherent educative and fun material for kids/teens (and dinosaurs' suckers).
Note: on my scale, it's clear 3/5, but in the GR measure the 2 stars are more adequate.
October 29, 2012
A detailed and beautifully illustrated exposition of those enormous prehistoric creatures which are such an interest for so many of us, “Discovery Channel Dinosaurs” presents the subject in a way suitable for younger readers and older. Any fan of dinosaurs will find much to enjoy here, both in the text and in the wonderful illustrations. Kudos to Discovery Channel for making this material available in a print format, that can be read, reread, and savoured.
April 20, 2022
I read this book with my 6 year old son that is a huge dinosaurs fan. He is the target audience of this book and he loved it. This is an informational text in the form of a graphic novel, which I love. I highly recommend this for all young fans of dinosaurs.
November 21, 2018
This is a good series for teens. Great artwork, good concise facts, a bit bloody.
August 31, 2023
1 of the worst I've ever reviewed ( www.amazon.com/review/RUDUVTOQRKLDV/r... ): 1/5
Short version: If you want the best collection of day-in-the-life dino stories, get Stout's "The New Dinosaurs" & read it in conjunction with other, more recent books (E.g. Naish/Barrett's "Dinosaurs: How They Lived and Evolved"). If you want the best educational graphic novel about dinos, get Howard's "Dinosaur Empire!" & read it in conjunction with other, more adult books (E.g. Naish/Barrett's book). Brusha et al.'s "Discovery Channel's Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Predators" (henceforth DC) fails at being either of these or even just decent in its own right. In fact, in some ways, it fails more than any other dino book I've ever reviewed.
Long version: Read on.
While I can't say that any 1 dino book is the worst ever, I can say that DC is 1 of the worst I've ever reviewed. Everything about DC feels like the ultimate cheap cash-in. Put another way, imagine what it'd be like if Dingo Pictures ( https://phelous.com/tag/dingo-pictures/ ) had made "The Christmas Tree" ( https://phelous.com/2016/12/21/phelou... ). DC is equivalent to that. In this review, I list the 4 main reasons why I think that is, besides the lack of expert consulting.*
1) Let me walk you through how bad DC's paleoart is: 1st, as a basis for comparison, see the mostly-accurate T. rex on the cover of Abramson et al.'s "Inside Dinosaurs" from around the same time; Then, see the shameless rip-off of the "Jurassic Park" T. rex on DC's cover; If you're anything like me when I 1st saw DC, you're probably thinking something like, "At least it looks good...Maybe it's worth a look inside"; However, I soon realized it isn't when I saw that the introductory T. rex are both shameless rip-offs of the JP T. rex & extremely outdated/abominable ones at that (I.e. 3-fingered bunny hands, big blocky scales, etc: http://is4.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/P... ); Worse still, they're inconsistently abominable (I.e. Their shapes/proportions/colors vary from panel to panel) & depicted in what looks like an inappropriately-modern environment that's been painted over with CG (E.g. Grass, grass everywhere).
2) DC may have the most annoyingly-inconsistent writing. This is especially apparent in the Fact Files: Some list both common & scientific names (I.e. Genus & Genus+species, respectively) while others only list common names; Some incorrectly capitalize the species part of scientific names while others don't; Some translate common names while others translate scientific names; Some put the translation in quotes while others don't; Some list orders or suborders under "Dinosaur type" (E.g. "Theropoda" for Allosaurus) while others list families (E.g. "Dromaeosaurids" for Velociraptor) & still others list neither (E.g. "Armored" for Ankylosaurus); Some include "Period" after "Jurassic" or "Cretaceous" while others don't; Some list continents under "Fossils Found" while others list countries & still others list states. The main text writing is also annoyingly inconsistent in terms of bolding & punctuation as well as annoyingly hyperbolic & all-caps (E.g. See the 1st Brusha et al. quote; The originally-bolded words are in curly brackets; However, I refuse to type the quote out in all-caps, hence why it's all lowercase).
3) DC may be the most hit-&-miss in terms of getting the facts straight. This is especially apparent in the Fact Files because the misses stick out more with less text.** However, as bad as the "FACT FILE" misses are, the main text misses may be even worse in degree (E.g. See the 1st Brusha et al. quote; In actuality, Velociraptor was beaver-sized & lived in a desert environment).
4) Despite only accounting for 0.5/5 stars, organization may be the worst aspect of DC in terms of what it implies: For 1, the introductory & concluding chapters consist of a few sparsely & vaguely-written paragraphs/sentences; This is especially apparent in "TIMELINE" (E.g. See the 2nd Brusha et al. quote, which represents 2 back-to-back paragraphs about the Cretaceous; Notice that nothing is explained & there is no logical transition or flow); This implies that DC was just thrown together; For another, the stories themselves are arranged alphabetically, beginning with Allosaurus & ending with Velociraptor; This works in alphabet books (which are for younger kids) & certain reference works, but that's about it; This implies that the creators of DC don't think highly of their older kid audience.
*Not that the Discovery Channel was doing a good job consulting with experts at the time, even when it had experts to consult with ( https://svpow.com/2009/12/15/lies-dam... ).
**Even if you only read the Fact Files, you'll see that there's an average of at least 3 or 4 factual errors per page in DC, a 120 page book (E.g. Velociraptor =/= Russian obligate pack hunter; Also, the "Late Cretaceous Period" is NOT an "Era", hence the "Period").
Quoting Brusha et al.: "80 million years ago a predator not much larger than our modern day lion terrorized the forests and plains of the late cretaceous period[...]the velociraptor was armed with a more impressive array of {weapons} than a lion, or any {other} predator that walks the earth today."
Quoting Brusha et al.: "The cretaceous period is the most explosive period as dinosaur, animal, and fish diversity grew in scope. Pangea's component parts split further, a harbinger of more dramatic changes that would eventually doom the dinosaurs. The dinosaur began to evolve into species that not only ate plants but meat[...]The non-avian dinosaurs struggled to find food and their populations declined. The long-necked beasts that thrived on plants were gone. The cretaceous-tertiary extinction events remain a mystery but the results were clear: The day of the dinosaur has ended."
Short version: If you want the best collection of day-in-the-life dino stories, get Stout's "The New Dinosaurs" & read it in conjunction with other, more recent books (E.g. Naish/Barrett's "Dinosaurs: How They Lived and Evolved"). If you want the best educational graphic novel about dinos, get Howard's "Dinosaur Empire!" & read it in conjunction with other, more adult books (E.g. Naish/Barrett's book). Brusha et al.'s "Discovery Channel's Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Predators" (henceforth DC) fails at being either of these or even just decent in its own right. In fact, in some ways, it fails more than any other dino book I've ever reviewed.
Long version: Read on.
While I can't say that any 1 dino book is the worst ever, I can say that DC is 1 of the worst I've ever reviewed. Everything about DC feels like the ultimate cheap cash-in. Put another way, imagine what it'd be like if Dingo Pictures ( https://phelous.com/tag/dingo-pictures/ ) had made "The Christmas Tree" ( https://phelous.com/2016/12/21/phelou... ). DC is equivalent to that. In this review, I list the 4 main reasons why I think that is, besides the lack of expert consulting.*
1) Let me walk you through how bad DC's paleoart is: 1st, as a basis for comparison, see the mostly-accurate T. rex on the cover of Abramson et al.'s "Inside Dinosaurs" from around the same time; Then, see the shameless rip-off of the "Jurassic Park" T. rex on DC's cover; If you're anything like me when I 1st saw DC, you're probably thinking something like, "At least it looks good...Maybe it's worth a look inside"; However, I soon realized it isn't when I saw that the introductory T. rex are both shameless rip-offs of the JP T. rex & extremely outdated/abominable ones at that (I.e. 3-fingered bunny hands, big blocky scales, etc: http://is4.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/P... ); Worse still, they're inconsistently abominable (I.e. Their shapes/proportions/colors vary from panel to panel) & depicted in what looks like an inappropriately-modern environment that's been painted over with CG (E.g. Grass, grass everywhere).
2) DC may have the most annoyingly-inconsistent writing. This is especially apparent in the Fact Files: Some list both common & scientific names (I.e. Genus & Genus+species, respectively) while others only list common names; Some incorrectly capitalize the species part of scientific names while others don't; Some translate common names while others translate scientific names; Some put the translation in quotes while others don't; Some list orders or suborders under "Dinosaur type" (E.g. "Theropoda" for Allosaurus) while others list families (E.g. "Dromaeosaurids" for Velociraptor) & still others list neither (E.g. "Armored" for Ankylosaurus); Some include "Period" after "Jurassic" or "Cretaceous" while others don't; Some list continents under "Fossils Found" while others list countries & still others list states. The main text writing is also annoyingly inconsistent in terms of bolding & punctuation as well as annoyingly hyperbolic & all-caps (E.g. See the 1st Brusha et al. quote; The originally-bolded words are in curly brackets; However, I refuse to type the quote out in all-caps, hence why it's all lowercase).
3) DC may be the most hit-&-miss in terms of getting the facts straight. This is especially apparent in the Fact Files because the misses stick out more with less text.** However, as bad as the "FACT FILE" misses are, the main text misses may be even worse in degree (E.g. See the 1st Brusha et al. quote; In actuality, Velociraptor was beaver-sized & lived in a desert environment).
4) Despite only accounting for 0.5/5 stars, organization may be the worst aspect of DC in terms of what it implies: For 1, the introductory & concluding chapters consist of a few sparsely & vaguely-written paragraphs/sentences; This is especially apparent in "TIMELINE" (E.g. See the 2nd Brusha et al. quote, which represents 2 back-to-back paragraphs about the Cretaceous; Notice that nothing is explained & there is no logical transition or flow); This implies that DC was just thrown together; For another, the stories themselves are arranged alphabetically, beginning with Allosaurus & ending with Velociraptor; This works in alphabet books (which are for younger kids) & certain reference works, but that's about it; This implies that the creators of DC don't think highly of their older kid audience.
*Not that the Discovery Channel was doing a good job consulting with experts at the time, even when it had experts to consult with ( https://svpow.com/2009/12/15/lies-dam... ).
**Even if you only read the Fact Files, you'll see that there's an average of at least 3 or 4 factual errors per page in DC, a 120 page book (E.g. Velociraptor =/= Russian obligate pack hunter; Also, the "Late Cretaceous Period" is NOT an "Era", hence the "Period").
Quoting Brusha et al.: "80 million years ago a predator not much larger than our modern day lion terrorized the forests and plains of the late cretaceous period[...]the velociraptor was armed with a more impressive array of {weapons} than a lion, or any {other} predator that walks the earth today."
Quoting Brusha et al.: "The cretaceous period is the most explosive period as dinosaur, animal, and fish diversity grew in scope. Pangea's component parts split further, a harbinger of more dramatic changes that would eventually doom the dinosaurs. The dinosaur began to evolve into species that not only ate plants but meat[...]The non-avian dinosaurs struggled to find food and their populations declined. The long-necked beasts that thrived on plants were gone. The cretaceous-tertiary extinction events remain a mystery but the results were clear: The day of the dinosaur has ended."
January 17, 2013
Mommy's review from 9/3/11 -
This is Julia's first foray into the graphic arena. I'm so happy I picked this up while strolling through Wal-Mart last week. Julia's face lit up when I showed it to her and I know she liked the fact that it's different from every other dinosaur book she's ever read.
This book has a few chapters, almost all on a different dinosaur. Most are very well known like the T. Rex, the Triceratops, the Stegosaurus. The one dinosaur I'd call not too well known would be the Sarcosuchus. Each of the others have been very well documented, even in kids books, throughout the years.
The beginning has a slight timeline, with the different periods of course. The first and last chapters are a 'welcome to the land of dinosaurs' and a 'the discovery continues', respectively.
Most, if not all, of the actual dino chapters, have a little 'fact file' which includes the common name, the meaning of the name, the type of dino, era, where fossils have been found, it's diet, it's hunting method, and it's size. Then the chapters have a bit of a story of what this particular dino may have faced.
There are some close up shots of teeth, claws, crests, etc. in most, if not all, of the chapters.
I'm sure this is actually more targeted toward boys older than Julia but Julia loves it and it's not going anywhere soon. I'd like to find more like it actually and more of the Discovery Channel's other books. (A book about sharks is featured in the back of this book that looks good.)
I'd recommend for any kid into dinosaurs but it should be known that for any dino lover that has any real knowledge, nothing new will be found here in that area. If you're in it for the stories or the pictures, or the commonly known facts, this will work fine.
This is Julia's first foray into the graphic arena. I'm so happy I picked this up while strolling through Wal-Mart last week. Julia's face lit up when I showed it to her and I know she liked the fact that it's different from every other dinosaur book she's ever read.
This book has a few chapters, almost all on a different dinosaur. Most are very well known like the T. Rex, the Triceratops, the Stegosaurus. The one dinosaur I'd call not too well known would be the Sarcosuchus. Each of the others have been very well documented, even in kids books, throughout the years.
The beginning has a slight timeline, with the different periods of course. The first and last chapters are a 'welcome to the land of dinosaurs' and a 'the discovery continues', respectively.
Most, if not all, of the actual dino chapters, have a little 'fact file' which includes the common name, the meaning of the name, the type of dino, era, where fossils have been found, it's diet, it's hunting method, and it's size. Then the chapters have a bit of a story of what this particular dino may have faced.
There are some close up shots of teeth, claws, crests, etc. in most, if not all, of the chapters.
I'm sure this is actually more targeted toward boys older than Julia but Julia loves it and it's not going anywhere soon. I'd like to find more like it actually and more of the Discovery Channel's other books. (A book about sharks is featured in the back of this book that looks good.)
I'd recommend for any kid into dinosaurs but it should be known that for any dino lover that has any real knowledge, nothing new will be found here in that area. If you're in it for the stories or the pictures, or the commonly known facts, this will work fine.
February 1, 2016
No other animal has captivated society's imagination as much as dinosaurs have. This was echoed in every page. So brief and succinct describing many of the iconic dinosaurs and Mesozoic animals that captivate us. It was written in a way that anyone could understand. It was a plus to see OC Marsh, ED Cope, SW Williston, Elmer Riggs, and the great Barnum Brown mentioned in a book for the general population. I'm definitely fanboying here. These are the greats of paleontology. Where was Roy Chapman Andrews and Jack Horner? I would liken this book to Andrews' All About Dinosaurs in it's simplistic eloquence in describing these majestic animals. They information was great and anyone could pick up the book and be enthralled with the information presented.
One error, the most well known scientific name is the Tyrannosaur Rex, they mismatched the scientific name in the book.
One error, the most well known scientific name is the Tyrannosaur Rex, they mismatched the scientific name in the book.
July 5, 2012
Reviewed at:
http://www.teachmentortexts.com/2012/...
Once again, I am impressed by this nonfiction graphic novel that Discovery Channel has put out. They have really jumped on something that had an open market and by starting with sharks and dinosaurs, they'll probably have a lot of quick fans. And once again, I really enjoyed how the book was set up including diagrams, blurbs, history, timelines, reenactments, etc.
Also, I love when I find new information to me in a book. I am a pretty big dinosaur fan, but I didn't know pterodactyls could fold their wings and walk on land and I was very happy to finally learn why we don't call apatosauruses brontasaurus anymore.
http://www.teachmentortexts.com/2012/...
Once again, I am impressed by this nonfiction graphic novel that Discovery Channel has put out. They have really jumped on something that had an open market and by starting with sharks and dinosaurs, they'll probably have a lot of quick fans. And once again, I really enjoyed how the book was set up including diagrams, blurbs, history, timelines, reenactments, etc.
Also, I love when I find new information to me in a book. I am a pretty big dinosaur fan, but I didn't know pterodactyls could fold their wings and walk on land and I was very happy to finally learn why we don't call apatosauruses brontasaurus anymore.
September 3, 2016
DINOSAURS! I love kids books on Dinosaurs, as I wanted to be a Paleontologist when I grew up. The facts may not be new, but I love the format. Great Job, and I would recommend it for any kid or grown up that enjoys reading about dinosaurs.
I received a copy of this book to peruse through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I received a copy of this book to peruse through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
September 7, 2011
Great! a picture really does say a thousand words.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews