What do you think?
Rate this book
Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science, Stage 2
Pinocchio Rex and Other Tyrannosaurs: A STEM Science Book About Dinosaur Discoveries for Children (Ages 4-8)
Everyone knows that Tyrannosaurus rex is the huge dinosaur with sharp claws and tiny arms. But in this appealing level 2 picture book from acclaimed science writer Melissa Stewart, you’ll learn that T. rex is not the only tyrannosaur that existed in prehistoric times.
In the last fifteen years, scientists have found many tyrannosaurs, including one with a really long pointy nose. The New York Times bestselling coauthor of this book, Dr. Steve Brusatte, went to China in order to help ID the dinosaur that he would give the nickname Pinocchio Rex!
This book is the perfect overview of the exciting new discoveries in the land of tyrannosaurs. Read and find out how tyrannosaurs evolved—from the tiny Dilong to the enormous T. rex. The book also includes an infographic, activity, and glossary, as well as “Dr. Steve Says” sidebars that give readers insight into what it felt like for Dr. Steve to be involved with the discovery of P. Rex!
This is a Level 2 Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science title, which means the book explores more challenging concepts for children in the primary grades and supports the Common Core Learning Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) standards. Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out is the winner of the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Science Books & Films Prize for Outstanding Science Series.
In the last fifteen years, scientists have found many tyrannosaurs, including one with a really long pointy nose. The New York Times bestselling coauthor of this book, Dr. Steve Brusatte, went to China in order to help ID the dinosaur that he would give the nickname Pinocchio Rex!
This book is the perfect overview of the exciting new discoveries in the land of tyrannosaurs. Read and find out how tyrannosaurs evolved—from the tiny Dilong to the enormous T. rex. The book also includes an infographic, activity, and glossary, as well as “Dr. Steve Says” sidebars that give readers insight into what it felt like for Dr. Steve to be involved with the discovery of P. Rex!
This is a Level 2 Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science title, which means the book explores more challenging concepts for children in the primary grades and supports the Common Core Learning Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) standards. Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out is the winner of the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Science Books & Films Prize for Outstanding Science Series.
40 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2017
3 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Melissa Stewart
297 books188 followersMelissa Stewart is the award-winning author of more than 180 science and nature books for children. She offers a wide range of programs for schools, libraries, nature centers, and conferences. www.melissa-stewart.com"
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
December 4, 2024
TYRANNOTASTIC! This book really looks at the big 'T' in new and innovative ways. Always happy when I read books that update me on new finds in paleontology. Really have to start reading more 'big boy' books on the subject! Maybe next year I will look into reading several dino books for grown ups to get more information.
March 5, 2020
A great resource for our dinosaur unit!
June 1, 2021
Dinosaurs have never been my thing, but there is a lot of good information here. The book begins with an overview of how dinosaur bones are discovered and text boxes labeled "Dr. Steve Says" let children make contact with a real paleontologist. "Dino Fact File" sidebars provide various facts and figures about various tyrannosaurs and a timeline running along the bottom of each page helps to set the dinosaurs in time. There's also a fun activity to try in the back matter. I think this book is a great resource for young dinosaur fans and classrooms.
November 17, 2017
An appealing, informative look at new dinosaur discoveries.
June 12, 2018
Pinocchio Rex and other Tyrannosaurs provides an overview of ten tyrannosaurs, including recently discovered Pinocchio Rex, a long snouted dinosaur that co-author and paleontologist Dr. Steve Brusatte discovered in China. Each dinosaur comes with a description, a fact file, and a timeline. An activity involving chalk, a tape measure, and concrete provides size comparisons between a human child, a bus, and a T-Rex. Color drawings of the dinosaurs will help engage the reader. Dr. Brusatte describes finding the dinosaur bones and provides a clear picture of what a paleontologist's career involves. Recommended.
August 7, 2020
Steve Brusatte strikes again!
March 12, 2018
It's amazing how many dinosaur finds there have been in recent times!
June 6, 2018
This is actually one of my favorite dinosaur books I've read to my son. Nonfiction can be hard to read aloud to him, but this was actually very readable.
November 29, 2023
This is a level 2 reader, and I think it will be a good, challenging read for a child who has progressed past basic sentences. It's especially geared towards children who love dinosaurs and scientific facts - a side bar on each page gives facts about a dinosaur, and there's a paragraph or two explaining a few details about each dinosaur, and there's also an interview box with the scientist who went to China to help identify the Pinnochio Rex dinosaur featured on the cover.
August 18, 2021
Interesting non-fiction book about a variety of tyrannosaurs. Kids who love T. Rex may be interested to know that there are probably over 25 different kinds of tyrannosaurs. Some are small, like humans, and others are huge. Some had long arms, some had crests on their heads, and some might have hunted each other.
February 3, 2024
This is a very interesting factual book about 11 of about 25 different kinds of Tyrannosaur dinosaurs whose fossils have been found so far. Included in the book is Dino Fact File, a time line, information about the author, an activity to try, a glossary, a page called How Tyrannosaurs Changes, and lists of books available in the science series. Wonderful illustrations.
October 18, 2021
This book is PERFECT for dinosaur lovers and also for anyone interested in evolution. I think the layout is very inviting for young readers. I really loved the timeline and love how the author and illustrator included the facts about each dinosaur in such a way that it was easy to flip back and forth to compare them. If you know a young reader who loves T Rex, they NEED this book and will love to know how many more tyrannosaurs have been discovered.
September 11, 2024
You know what, you just made the list! ( www.amazon.com/review/R33MKMXA6PR2MR/... ): 2/5
Like Stewart's other dino book ( www.goodreads.com/review/show/3500348586 ), I really wanted to like "Pinocchio Rex and Other Tyrannosaurs" (henceforth Rex), especially given Csotonyi's paleoart. However, also like Stewart's other dino book, Rex is very bad (hence this review's title, which is what I thought when I 1st realized how bad Rex is).* In this review, I list the 3 main reasons why that is.
1) You'd think the tyrannosaurs would be arranged in order of when they lived or when they were discovered (More on that below), but nope. They're just scattered all over with no apparent rhyme or reason.
2) Not only does Rex avoid using the word "evolution", but it synonymizes "developed" with "evolved" ( www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/04... ).
3) Rex fails to cover many tyrannosaur-related subjects & those that are covered are done so in an insufficient manner:** Sometimes, it simplifies things to the point of being meaningless (E.g. See the 1st Stewart quote, which describes ALL meat-eating dinos); Other times, it's just plain wrong (E.g. See the 2nd Stewart quote, the 1st half of which contradicts the 2nd half).
Rex could've been a good natural history of tyrannosaurs, similar to Bakker's "The Big Golden Book of Dinosaurs", or a good history of tyrannosaur research, similar to Naish's "The Great Dinosaur Discoveries", for younger kids. Instead, Rex is basically just a well-illustrated pageant of tyrannosaurs, similar to "fossil exhibits[...]in the early days". To quote Ben ( https://extinctmonsters.net/2014/06/2... ), "people could marvel at the great size of the animals, but there was very little to be learned besides the names of the species in question."
*If you don't get the reference, google "the list of Jericho".
**This is especially apparent in the Kileskus section. Based on Brusatte's "The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World" (which I reviewed: www.goodreads.com/review/show/3522479251 ), A LOT more could've been said about how Kileskus lived &/or how it was discovered.
Quoting Stewart: "Tyrannosaurs[...]A group of meat-eating dinosaurs that walked on two legs."
Quoting Stewart: "Dinosaurs[...]A group of animals that lived mostly on land between 230 and 66 million years ago. They walked upright and had big arm muscles. The birds alive today developed from dinosaurs."
Like Stewart's other dino book ( www.goodreads.com/review/show/3500348586 ), I really wanted to like "Pinocchio Rex and Other Tyrannosaurs" (henceforth Rex), especially given Csotonyi's paleoart. However, also like Stewart's other dino book, Rex is very bad (hence this review's title, which is what I thought when I 1st realized how bad Rex is).* In this review, I list the 3 main reasons why that is.
1) You'd think the tyrannosaurs would be arranged in order of when they lived or when they were discovered (More on that below), but nope. They're just scattered all over with no apparent rhyme or reason.
2) Not only does Rex avoid using the word "evolution", but it synonymizes "developed" with "evolved" ( www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/04... ).
3) Rex fails to cover many tyrannosaur-related subjects & those that are covered are done so in an insufficient manner:** Sometimes, it simplifies things to the point of being meaningless (E.g. See the 1st Stewart quote, which describes ALL meat-eating dinos); Other times, it's just plain wrong (E.g. See the 2nd Stewart quote, the 1st half of which contradicts the 2nd half).
Rex could've been a good natural history of tyrannosaurs, similar to Bakker's "The Big Golden Book of Dinosaurs", or a good history of tyrannosaur research, similar to Naish's "The Great Dinosaur Discoveries", for younger kids. Instead, Rex is basically just a well-illustrated pageant of tyrannosaurs, similar to "fossil exhibits[...]in the early days". To quote Ben ( https://extinctmonsters.net/2014/06/2... ), "people could marvel at the great size of the animals, but there was very little to be learned besides the names of the species in question."
*If you don't get the reference, google "the list of Jericho".
**This is especially apparent in the Kileskus section. Based on Brusatte's "The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World" (which I reviewed: www.goodreads.com/review/show/3522479251 ), A LOT more could've been said about how Kileskus lived &/or how it was discovered.
Quoting Stewart: "Tyrannosaurs[...]A group of meat-eating dinosaurs that walked on two legs."
Quoting Stewart: "Dinosaurs[...]A group of animals that lived mostly on land between 230 and 66 million years ago. They walked upright and had big arm muscles. The birds alive today developed from dinosaurs."
May 9, 2019
This was an interesting book about different types of tyrannosaurs. It's curious that they began to get bigger over time. It makes me wonder why; I'm interesting in looking into some ideas.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews