Dinosaur Story

by Joanna Cole, Mort Künstler (Illustrator)

Book about dinosaurs. The authenticity manuscript and illustrations of this book for children was verified by Dr. Eugene S. Gaffney, of the American Museum of Natural History.

Genres: Dinosaurs, Science, Nonfiction

32 pages, Library Binding

First published October 1, 1974

About the author

Joanna Cole, who also wrote under the pseudonym B. J. Barnet, was an author of children’s books who teaches science.

She is most famous as the author of The Magic School Bus series of children's books. Joanna Cole wrote over 250 books ranging from her first book Cockroach to her famous series Magic School Bus.

Cole was born in Newark, New Jersey, and grew up in nearby East Orange. She loved science as a child, and had a teacher she says was a little like Ms. Frizzle. She attended the University of Massachusetts and Indiana University before graduating from the City College of New York with a B.A. in psychology. After some graduate education courses, she spent a year as a librarian in a Brooklyn elementary school. Cole subsequently became a letters correspondent at Newsweek, and then a senior editor for Doubleday Books for Young Readers.

Reviews

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cover image here https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/...

I used to have a paperback that might have been the 1974 edition, but I can't remember. I remember being totally knocked out by this book. I absolutely adored the art, weird green shades and all. As a little kid, I'd stare at the art for ages. T-Rexes battled, a lithe little Dino (Ornitholestes) caught a bird (!) ... ah, good times. There was no attempt to show kids how to pronounce dinosaur names ... because we kids already knew how pronounce them.

Of course, a lot of this book is out of date, which is why I had to knock off a couple of stars. It did reflect the knowledge of the times. It also stated that no one knew why the dinosaurs went extinct.

I see that two editions of this book are up on The Open Library.

[Melinda Christensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

We know that there used to be dinosaurs on earth because scientists have found their bones underneath the ground. Brontosaurus, the biggest, is now called Apatosaurus. Allosaurus was the enemy of Apatosaurus, not as big, but quicker. Stegosaurus, which means "covered lizard" was protected by its spikes and plates. There was a bird-robber called Ornitholestes, which was fast enough to catch birds. Protoceratops was only 5 to 6 feet long, and it ate plants. All dinosaurs hatched from eggs. Some other dinosaurs were Protoceratops, Akylosaurus, Triceratops, and "the king of the tyrants", Tyrannosaurus rex. It was the most terrible of all and ate other dinosaurs. One day, the dinosaurs disappeared, and nobody knows why. I am glad I can read about dinosaurs today instead of having to live with them! Yikes!

[bluetyson]

isbn,original

[Megan DeHart · Rating 2 out of 5]

The information in this book is rather out dated by todays knowledge of dinosaurs, particularly the illustrations (the animals dragging their tails on the ground). I did like that it described a few dinosaurs that children may not be familiar with such as the case of Ornitholestes. I would recommend for young readers that have very little dino knowledge, but if the little one knows quite abit their attention may not be held.