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Bank Street Museum
Dinosaurium
Visit the world of the dinosaurs in this "museum," with rooms that show dinosaurs from different times, the smallest and biggest dinosaurs, and many more.
This book is organized like a visit to a musseum, and it introduces children to dinosaurs and their evolution through different geological periods, highlighting scientific issues as well as interesting facts and types of dinosaurs, such as Maiasaura, and the pterosaurs, or flying dinosaurs.
This book is organized like a visit to a musseum, and it introduces children to dinosaurs and their evolution through different geological periods, highlighting scientific issues as well as interesting facts and types of dinosaurs, such as Maiasaura, and the pterosaurs, or flying dinosaurs.
- GenresDinosaurs
48 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1993
1 person is currently reading
3 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Brenner
108 books12 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Barbara Brenner is a respected, award-winning author, specializing in works of both juvenile fiction and nonfiction educational material that deals with animals, nature, and ecology. Her interests range from the natural world (i.e. Thinking about Ants) to American history (e.g. Wagon Wheels), all of which are reflected in the wide scope of her work. Brenner discussed with Contemporary Authors Online her influences and how they have affected her literary career, concluding that “all the circumstances of my life conspired to make me a writer--just lucky, I guess.”
Brenner was born Barbara Lawrence on June 26, 1925, in Brooklyn, New York, to Robert Lawrence (a real estate broker) and Marguerite (Furboter) Johnes. Tragically, her mother died when Brenner was just a year old, and, according to Brenner, this has been a large influence on her career, with Contemporary Authors Online showing how this has added a certain level of “sensitivity” to her work. She also defines Brooklyn as a place which gave much “color” to her work, and where her father’s ambitions for her helped to develop Brenner’s intellectual curiosity.
Brenner attended Seton Hall College (now University) and Rutgers University from 1942-46, whilst also working as a copy editor at Prudential Insurance Co. from 1942 – 46. Her freelance work as an artist’s agent prepared her for a literary life, as after the birth of her two children she began work on her first book Somebody’s Slippers, Somebody’s Shoes, published in 1957. She followed this book with an educational picture book entitled Barto Takes the Subway, designed to improve reading comprehension and sight vocabulary.
Her artistic development continued when she began to collaborate with her husband, illustrator Fred Brenner, on The Flying Patchwork Quilt. Her next book, On the Frontier with Mr. Audubon, was selected by School Library Journal as “The Best of the Best” among children’s books published over 26 seasons. In a review of On the Frontier with Mr. Audubon, Paul Showers wrote in the New York Times Book Review that “Brenner again demonstrates her gift for invention and respect for facts . . . [it is] written in the polite but colloquial language of the frontier sketching in Audubon’s biographical background and recording events of the journey as they might have been observed by a serious, very perceptive 13- year-old.” One of her best-selling titles was Wagon Wheels (published in 1978), which deals with the trials and tribulations of a close-knit African American family. This true to life story is “exciting and realistic” according to Gisela Jernigan (writing in the children literature journal Booklist), and was named a 1978 American Library Association Notable Book.
Throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s Brenner continued to publish, many of her works being influenced by the careers and interests of her sons. Speaking to Contemporary Authors Online Brenner explains that as their sons are both grown, and their respective careers as a “biologist . . . and musician” have both had an influence on her writing (i.e. Dinosaurium 1993). In 1986, Brenner was honored with the Pennsylvania School Librarians’ Association’s Outstanding Pennsylvania Author Award. Brenner’s most celebrated book is a collection entitled Voices: Poetry and Art from around the World, for which she was chief editor. This book received an ALA Notable Book for Children mention and an ALA Best Book for Young Adults award. According to the Horn Book Guide from Spring 2001, “more than three hundred and fifty poems from six continents evoke the specific and the universal” with contributions from both “celebrated and unknown poets, Nobel prize winners, and children” allowing the book to demonstrate Brenner’s skill in celebrating “place” and the “shared feelings” of the people about whom the book is written.
Barbara Brenner is a respected, award-winning author, specializing in works of both juvenile fiction and nonfiction educational material that deals with animals, nature, and ecology. Her interests range from the natural world (i.e. Thinking about Ants) to American history (e.g. Wagon Wheels), all of which are reflected in the wide scope of her work. Brenner discussed with Contemporary Authors Online her influences and how they have affected her literary career, concluding that “all the circumstances of my life conspired to make me a writer--just lucky, I guess.”
Brenner was born Barbara Lawrence on June 26, 1925, in Brooklyn, New York, to Robert Lawrence (a real estate broker) and Marguerite (Furboter) Johnes. Tragically, her mother died when Brenner was just a year old, and, according to Brenner, this has been a large influence on her career, with Contemporary Authors Online showing how this has added a certain level of “sensitivity” to her work. She also defines Brooklyn as a place which gave much “color” to her work, and where her father’s ambitions for her helped to develop Brenner’s intellectual curiosity.
Brenner attended Seton Hall College (now University) and Rutgers University from 1942-46, whilst also working as a copy editor at Prudential Insurance Co. from 1942 – 46. Her freelance work as an artist’s agent prepared her for a literary life, as after the birth of her two children she began work on her first book Somebody’s Slippers, Somebody’s Shoes, published in 1957. She followed this book with an educational picture book entitled Barto Takes the Subway, designed to improve reading comprehension and sight vocabulary.
Her artistic development continued when she began to collaborate with her husband, illustrator Fred Brenner, on The Flying Patchwork Quilt. Her next book, On the Frontier with Mr. Audubon, was selected by School Library Journal as “The Best of the Best” among children’s books published over 26 seasons. In a review of On the Frontier with Mr. Audubon, Paul Showers wrote in the New York Times Book Review that “Brenner again demonstrates her gift for invention and respect for facts . . . [it is] written in the polite but colloquial language of the frontier sketching in Audubon’s biographical background and recording events of the journey as they might have been observed by a serious, very perceptive 13- year-old.” One of her best-selling titles was Wagon Wheels (published in 1978), which deals with the trials and tribulations of a close-knit African American family. This true to life story is “exciting and realistic” according to Gisela Jernigan (writing in the children literature journal Booklist), and was named a 1978 American Library Association Notable Book.
Throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s Brenner continued to publish, many of her works being influenced by the careers and interests of her sons. Speaking to Contemporary Authors Online Brenner explains that as their sons are both grown, and their respective careers as a “biologist . . . and musician” have both had an influence on her writing (i.e. Dinosaurium 1993). In 1986, Brenner was honored with the Pennsylvania School Librarians’ Association’s Outstanding Pennsylvania Author Award. Brenner’s most celebrated book is a collection entitled Voices: Poetry and Art from around the World, for which she was chief editor. This book received an ALA Notable Book for Children mention and an ALA Best Book for Young Adults award. According to the Horn Book Guide from Spring 2001, “more than three hundred and fifty poems from six continents evoke the specific and the universal” with contributions from both “celebrated and unknown poets, Nobel prize winners, and children” allowing the book to demonstrate Brenner’s skill in celebrating “place” and the “shared feelings” of the people about whom the book is written.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 8, 2024
My dream museum in book form ( www.amazon.com/review/R3VXVH7P882P8S/... ): 4/5
I may have been mistaken when I said that Aliki's dino books are "the best dino museum books for younger kids" ( www.goodreads.com/review/show/3505618469 ). In this review, I list the 2 main reasons why I think Brenner's "Dinosaurium" (henceforth Ium) may be best & should be read in conjunction with other, more recent books (E.g. Howard's "Dinosaur Empire!", which I reviewed: www.goodreads.com/review/show/4095195260 ).
1) Remember what I said about Michard's "The Reign of the Dinosaurs" ( www.goodreads.com/review/show/3520821385 )? Similarly, Ium is like a cross between Aliki's "Dinosaurs Are Different" & Gardom/Milner's "The Natural History Museum Book of Dinosaurs":
-Like Gardom/Milner's book, Ium is a natural history of dinos with a day-in-the-life format.
-Like Aliki's book, Ium follows a group of visitors as they tour the museum & get up close to life-size dino models, but better because said models are placed in walk-through dioramas (as opposed to blank voids). As someone who loves surrounding myself with natural history in general & dinos in particular, a whole museum of said dioramas seems like a dream come true.
2) As you may remember, "I like looking at Braginetz's paleoart" ( www.goodreads.com/review/show/3872018127 ). Her Ium work isn't as detailed & great as her "Special Dinosaurs" work, but is still thoughtful & pleasing. I especially like the "hall of ages" & "hall of feeding" landscapes ( https://chasmosaurs.com/2021/07/15/vi... ).
At this point, you may be wondering why only 4/5 stars? Unfortunately, there are several weird bits of text & writing throughout Ium, especially in "dinosaur nursery" (See the Brenner quotes): For 1, the egg shell parts are very confusingly-worded (I.e. Only amniotes lay shelled eggs; With that in mind, Brenner probably meant to say, "fish, insects, and amphibians[...]These eggs all had no shells"; Furthermore, that page's diagram of "eggs with hard shells" includes a pond slider egg, which is actually soft shelled); For another, the Orodromeus part is not only misleading/wrong, but contradicted by that page's art (which depicts the babies as being under the protection of an adult).
Quoting Brenner: "An egg holds everything a baby creature needs to grow on. Early in the history of life on earth, fish, insects, and reptiles began to be hatched from eggs. These eggs all had soft shells, so they were easily broken or washed away. After a long time, reptiles began to lay hard-shelled eggs. Those eggs were a safer place for developing young."
Quoting Brenner: "Fossils of young hatchlings were found in the maiasaur’s nest. This means that the mother must have brought food for the babies. In species such as Orodromeus, where the mother doesn't care for the young, the babies leave the nest right after they're born."
I may have been mistaken when I said that Aliki's dino books are "the best dino museum books for younger kids" ( www.goodreads.com/review/show/3505618469 ). In this review, I list the 2 main reasons why I think Brenner's "Dinosaurium" (henceforth Ium) may be best & should be read in conjunction with other, more recent books (E.g. Howard's "Dinosaur Empire!", which I reviewed: www.goodreads.com/review/show/4095195260 ).
1) Remember what I said about Michard's "The Reign of the Dinosaurs" ( www.goodreads.com/review/show/3520821385 )? Similarly, Ium is like a cross between Aliki's "Dinosaurs Are Different" & Gardom/Milner's "The Natural History Museum Book of Dinosaurs":
-Like Gardom/Milner's book, Ium is a natural history of dinos with a day-in-the-life format.
-Like Aliki's book, Ium follows a group of visitors as they tour the museum & get up close to life-size dino models, but better because said models are placed in walk-through dioramas (as opposed to blank voids). As someone who loves surrounding myself with natural history in general & dinos in particular, a whole museum of said dioramas seems like a dream come true.
2) As you may remember, "I like looking at Braginetz's paleoart" ( www.goodreads.com/review/show/3872018127 ). Her Ium work isn't as detailed & great as her "Special Dinosaurs" work, but is still thoughtful & pleasing. I especially like the "hall of ages" & "hall of feeding" landscapes ( https://chasmosaurs.com/2021/07/15/vi... ).
At this point, you may be wondering why only 4/5 stars? Unfortunately, there are several weird bits of text & writing throughout Ium, especially in "dinosaur nursery" (See the Brenner quotes): For 1, the egg shell parts are very confusingly-worded (I.e. Only amniotes lay shelled eggs; With that in mind, Brenner probably meant to say, "fish, insects, and amphibians[...]These eggs all had no shells"; Furthermore, that page's diagram of "eggs with hard shells" includes a pond slider egg, which is actually soft shelled); For another, the Orodromeus part is not only misleading/wrong, but contradicted by that page's art (which depicts the babies as being under the protection of an adult).
Quoting Brenner: "An egg holds everything a baby creature needs to grow on. Early in the history of life on earth, fish, insects, and reptiles began to be hatched from eggs. These eggs all had soft shells, so they were easily broken or washed away. After a long time, reptiles began to lay hard-shelled eggs. Those eggs were a safer place for developing young."
Quoting Brenner: "Fossils of young hatchlings were found in the maiasaur’s nest. This means that the mother must have brought food for the babies. In species such as Orodromeus, where the mother doesn't care for the young, the babies leave the nest right after they're born."
August 28, 2024
This is a very cool book! I would have loved this book if I had seen it as a child. I am sixty-three now and love it anyway. I really enjoy seeing prehistoric life in modern settings because it really brings home how big and beautiful they were. It's all very well to see a dinosaur wonderfully rendered. But without something familiar beside it, it is hard to appreciate its size. I very much recommend this book to all dinosaur fans.
February 12, 2011
This is a different sort of book. I forget where this came from but it has a poster in the back that dino lovers can pull out to hang on their wall. (It's not exactly pretty or anything but Julia thinks it's fantastic so I'm overruled.)
The book is set up like your walking through a museum. There's a cool little ongoing game which, on most pages, gives you a clue to a certain answer which you find out at the end of the book. (This isn't very clear. As much as Julia knows about dinos, besides a good guess, she wasn't sure until the end.)
Many of the pages have different facts on them, anything from the different periods to what fossils look like to timelines to maps of the world at each certain time.
The biggest problem I have with the book is that a lot of the dinosaur names have no pronunciation showing. With Julia I was able to start to sound out most of the names I didn't know and she's clue me in. I would say a parent reading this to a kid who doesn't know the names would get annoyed but by the time this actually mattered any kid not seriously into dinos would have fled the room.
Certain pages show children actually interacting with dinos which in some cases is fine. An example would be a girl with a magnifying glass looking closely at a Rutiodon's teeth. But a ways behind her we see a group of children and one of them is attempting to feed a Plateosaurus. Now, unless these kids are sort of on the slow end of things and are trying to feed a fake dino this kind of doesn't make any sense. But hey, who am I?
Anyway, much is included, there is a "size chart" which shows a few dinos and animals living today which would be about the same size. (I do have to say that I didn't think the sizes were too compatible but maybe that was the best they could do so I can't be sure I should be complaining.)
Lots of height and weight info, lots of close looks at skulls and whatnot. For a serious dinosaur lover this is a pretty good book. I do have to hand it to the authors because they showed quite a few, many even, dinosaurs the average person doesn't know off the top of their heads. There are some in this book that Julia had never heard of and believe me, that's a feat in and of itself. That alone added an extra star IMO.
The book is set up like your walking through a museum. There's a cool little ongoing game which, on most pages, gives you a clue to a certain answer which you find out at the end of the book. (This isn't very clear. As much as Julia knows about dinos, besides a good guess, she wasn't sure until the end.)
Many of the pages have different facts on them, anything from the different periods to what fossils look like to timelines to maps of the world at each certain time.
The biggest problem I have with the book is that a lot of the dinosaur names have no pronunciation showing. With Julia I was able to start to sound out most of the names I didn't know and she's clue me in. I would say a parent reading this to a kid who doesn't know the names would get annoyed but by the time this actually mattered any kid not seriously into dinos would have fled the room.
Certain pages show children actually interacting with dinos which in some cases is fine. An example would be a girl with a magnifying glass looking closely at a Rutiodon's teeth. But a ways behind her we see a group of children and one of them is attempting to feed a Plateosaurus. Now, unless these kids are sort of on the slow end of things and are trying to feed a fake dino this kind of doesn't make any sense. But hey, who am I?
Anyway, much is included, there is a "size chart" which shows a few dinos and animals living today which would be about the same size. (I do have to say that I didn't think the sizes were too compatible but maybe that was the best they could do so I can't be sure I should be complaining.)
Lots of height and weight info, lots of close looks at skulls and whatnot. For a serious dinosaur lover this is a pretty good book. I do have to hand it to the authors because they showed quite a few, many even, dinosaurs the average person doesn't know off the top of their heads. There are some in this book that Julia had never heard of and believe me, that's a feat in and of itself. That alone added an extra star IMO.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews