When Bugs Were Big, Plants Were Strange, and Tetrapods Stalked the Earth: A Cartoon Prehistory of Life before Dinosaurs

by Hannah Bonner

A centipede as long as a couch? Trees so tall they touch the clouds? Amphibians changing into reptiles? These are just a few of the amazing life forms detailed in When Bugs Were Big.... This lively new paperback tickles the reader’s funny bone while imparting tons of information about the animals, plants, and bugs that lived before the dinosaurs. Children will read "news reports" including a weather forecast from 320 million years ago and an emergency broadcast about the swift extinction that would end the Permian period. As kids peruse Bonner’s innovative combination of narrative text, engaging illustrations, hilarious cartoons, maps, charts, and time lines, they will gather lots of valuable scientific information about the amazing creatures that ruled the Earth before the dinosaurs.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Prehistory, Picture Books, Nature, Earth Sciences, Childrens

48 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2004

About the author

HANNAH BONNER's natural illustrations have graced many publications including the best-selling Scholastic Science Dictionary and three award-winning National Geographic Kids titles, including When Bugs Were Big, Plants Were Strange, and Tetrapods Stalked the Earth, a Booklist Top 10 Science Book for Youth and included in the New York Public Library's 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing.

Reviews

[Joshua]

This is exactly the kind of book I would've gone nuts over, about 20 years ago. Heck, I'm pretty nuts about this book today. It isn't a paneled comic-book format, but rather text surrounded and supported by annotated illustrations, diagrams, and cartoons. (As synapsids are explained, a cartoon turtle declares, "I need that like I need a hole in the head!")
The book is a guide to the Carboniferous and Permian periods (the end of the Paleozoic), and Bonner keeps things pretty simple, but doesn't go slipshod on us--she's got a couple appendices (an illustrated Time Line of Life on Earth and a chart "to Help Keep the Vertebrates Straight," showing the evolutionary branching from the first tetrapods), a source bib, index, pronunciation guide, and glossary. She also includes a thorough "Where to Learn More" section, with some discussion about books, museums, and websites.
Any elementary-age kid who's into dinosaurs just may be introduced to a whole new set of obsessions by Bonner's awesome first book.

[Kam Yung Soh]

This children's book covers the Carboniferous and Permian periods with interesting illustrations and facts about the various unusual creatures that lived during that period.

In that period, unlike the plants and animals that we are used to nowadays, very early ferns and invertebrates dominated the land. The insects, in particular, grew to huge, spectacular sizes. In the oceans, strange looking fishes and giant invertebrates hunted.

During the Permian, the books touches on the two major groups of animals that, in the future, would become the dinosaurs and the mammals.

Done with interesting and fairly accurate illustrations (with notes on what is guesswork), this book should interest children who are fascinated by unusual creatures.

[Faith Walton]

This book teaches kids about megafauna, huge bugs, and tetrapods. It goes deep into Earth's history to show them their size, how they lived, and what they ate. The book has fun illustrations to give kids something to compare it to. I even learned things while reading this book.

I was never a dinosaur person. This book had a lot of info in it, but I liked the pictures! I would say this is a good book, but it's just not something I would be personally interested in. It's got some funny moments in it, which makes reading a nonfiction book more fun!

I think I would have this in my classroom, but I don't think this is a book I would make my students read. It's a little too long to read in class, but it would be perfect for a "free reading" period.

[Camden C]

One reson I like this book is because it is about prehistoric life. This book also includs sort funny comic strips. This book takes place in the carbinifores/permian. In this book I learned more about prehistoric life. I recomend this book to people that are interested in animals prehistory or just funny books.

[Kirsten]

Just as awesome as the prior book!

[Sami Snow]

This book was okay. This is not my style of book but definitely could be intriguing for people who love non-fiction.

Trait: Ideas
AR: 6.4
DRA: 60

[Talia]

Great book packed with information. Terrific to supplement our paleontology lessons.

[Sarah]

This is a fabulous informational book! As I was searching the shelves of the Juvenile/Young Adult section of my local library, I saw the title of this book and immediately decided to pick it up and take a closer look. The ability of a title to draw in a reader can be the first sign of a good book. Upon further perusal, I noticed other elements that could make this a good informational book. It had bright, crisp illustrations. Pictures of Carboniferous and Permian (pre-Triassic and Jurassic) era plants, insects, amphibians, and such were clearly labeled with names and other information. The style of the author-illustrator made it clear which illustrations were the non-fiction elements and which were humorous additions included to help in our understanding of the subject-matter. These included cartoon-style dialogue of people and creatures. The humor of the author-illustrator is evident in the text, as well.

The author incorporated other elements, also, that further assist the reader in understanding the subject-matter. There were clearly labeled maps, charts, and diagrams throughout the book. I found the “Time Line of Life on Earth” (Appendix I) and the “Chart to Keep the Vertebrates Straight” (Appendix II), to be particularly useful. There was a brief index, pronunciation guide, and Glossary at the end. The text was divided up by clear, logical headings. The fonts used were interesting (not your typical Times New Roman), but not overly-ornate; I found the fonts very easy to read. While Ms. Bonner included many scientific words such as names of plants and animals found in the Carboniferous and Permian time periods, she kept the rest of the language easy to understand. Her phrasing was interesting, not overly-wordy, yet was not too casual. There was still a tone of authority—that the author knew what she is talking about. Judging by the numerous acknowledgements and sources she included, it seemed apparent that she did in fact know what she was talking about. Many of the acknowledgements were thanking people from highly regarded colleges and universities, and museums in the United States and other countries. Her sources included books, articles, and websites that specifically relate to paleontology and related fields of study.

This book would be a great resource book for students in grades 3 and up. Teachers could also use it to teach about how to read/ use maps, charts, timelines, graphs, etc. in order to understand information. A teacher could also discuss with students why an author would include these in her book. In teaching the subject-matter, a teacher could use the recent article from the July 2009 issue of The Smithsonian (one of the institutes acknowledged) about the world’s largest fossil forest found in the coal mines of Illinois.

[Collin Powell]

This book talks about the plants that looked like trees back before the time of humans, how we discovered these organisms as fossils, continental drift, insects of enormous size compared to today, early examples of fish and extinct 4-legged land animals.
I wasn’t as big a fan of this book because there was just so much going on in the book with so many sections that only a little bit could be talked over in each section. It seems like it should have been more limited. They probably tried to do way too much in this book with the time and space they had and I believe it would have been more successful if they narrowed the topics but talked about each one in more depth.
I can see using this book as a general purpose introduction to early life on Earth but it would need to be supplemented by books that had more detail and more in-depth information.

[Katie]

Covers the Carboniferous and Permian eras, and explains forms of life during this time. The illustrations are fun and partly made up of comics. Wonderfully funny and sassy. Unfortunately it's a bit outdated (published in 2004, it reflects the now-incorrect label of Megarachne as a spider, rather than a eurypterid), and this is the only reason why I have to knock a star. As other reviewers have pointed out, it's easy to find good books on the Mesozoic, but the Paleozoic is a bit trickier.

Includes timeline of the earth, book recommendations, sources, index, glossary, and pronunciation guide.

[Alice Sujata]

While there's a seemingly endless supply of juvenile books about the Mesozoic age, good ones covering the Paleozoic are scarce. After reading The Story of Life On Earth by Margret Munro, we used this book to dive deeper into the details of the evolution of life during this era.

The Carboniferous and Permian periods are explained in simple terms with interesting facts about both plant and animal life during these ages. Fun comics and jokes about the time are scattered throughout and help explain the facts.

[Janice]

Published by National Geographic, this book deals with the Carboniferous and Permian periods of Earth’s history. Told in an easy-to-understand manner plus great pictures and cartoons to go along with the explanations make this a fun, informative read. There are charts, maps, and silly drawings to capture students’ attention. A lot of information is packed into this thin volume. I could see students picking this up more than once.

[Abby Johnson]

This book explores the plants and animals of the Carboniferous and Permian eras, way before dinosaurs were around. With cartoons and many detailed illustrations, Bonner brings this prehistoric world to life. Her books really make me realize that in the history of the world, humanity is nothing more than a drop in the bucket. Big ideas are simplified and made fun and interesting. Wahoo!

[Katie]

Awesome book! Explains a lot about pre-dinosaur species (especially reptiles and amphibians), which usually get short shrift. :)

[Steve]

The perfect childrens book.

[wildct2003]

Fun to read, good pictures and humor.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer]

Very informative, with great pictures.

[Madison]

Bugs were scary back in the day