My First Book of Dinosaur Comparisons

by Sara Hurst, Ana Seixas (Illustrator)

Packed full of facts this vibrantly illustrated book shines a light on dinosaurs like never before!
 
Did you know that the Argentinosaurus weighed about as much as 12 elephants and grew as tall as a five-story building? Or that T. rex could crush a car in a single bite? Or that some dinosaur eggs were as big as footballs? This exciting picture book is full of these and many more fascinating fact nuggets.
 
Using striking visual comparisons , quiz questions, and bite-sized facts , this book teaches  children aged 5 and olde r, all about their favorite prehistoric creatures .
 
Turn the pages and compare the deadliest dinosaurs with today’s top predators, discover which teeny dinos size up with our pets, and find out just how much Diplodocus ate. You’ll discover how long Therizinosaurus' claws were (as long as you!), and just how fast Apatosaurus could whip its tail (faster than the speed of sound!).

Children will be amazed at what they discover in My First Book of Dinosaur Comparisons and will have plenty of unforgettable facts to dazzle their friends and family with.

48 pages, Hardcover

Published August 10, 2021

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[Theediscerning]

Hmmm, journalistic comparisons. Never mind adults getting completely bamboozled by things these days being the size of Wales (or Rhode Island, or even more pointlessly, Chad) - let's get the kids on to such a losing wicket. I did find some really good pages in this quick read – even though we've never knowingly found a T Rex egg this can show us the sizes it went through until adulthood – and just like us it stopped growing after its mid-teens. But an insistence on comparing everything to something else is very reductive, and not helpful, for various reasons.

One, it relies on the comparison being global. I was going to say 'not every reader of this will have had access to bowling balls' (one of the standard units here, as a prehistoric cycad plant weighed four of them), until the London bus turns up. Countless potential readers will have no idea what that specifically refers to.

Two, a lot of references are just plain unhelpful because they're impossible to visualise. A 26-storey building. OK. Yeah, I can get that specificity, of course – I often lambast the 25-storey buildings in my life for coming up short.

Three, a lot of references just don't hold water. Something is as tall as a poodle – is that toy, miniature or standard, and pre- or post-haircut?

You get the gist. A lot of this presents a lot of data wonderfully – it's very readable, and while it focuses on the superlatives (the strongest bite, the tallest this, the heaviest that, etc) it's by no means alone in that. Its cartoonish visual is nicely sustained and presented, and it has little pop-out quizzes at times to get us thinking and revising. But whether things are as long as a golf club or three alligators (?!), some of this is as useful as cropping a 12" record to fit inside a CD player. Damn it – now I've got the bug of making trashy comparisons that young readers will neither fathom nor need. A 'first book' of such things is OK as I hope I never see any more; while this is acceptable for school libraries it should be an addendum to one's learning, and not the core of it.

[Amanda Lavelle]

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group, Frances Lincoln Children’s Books for kindly providing me with a digital copy of this book for review.
Ok, so if you have an autistic person in your life, you will probably be aware that many autistic people can develop strong interests in a particular topic or thing, and these often border on obsession. My eldest son’s is Ancient Egypt, and my youngest son’s is- you guessed it.....dinosaurs. I read more dinosaur books to him than you can shake a stick at quite frankly. I don’t want to boast, but I might be able to go for a palaeontology degree soon (as well as an Egyptology one as well, why not?)
So, how does this new dinosaur book measure up against the extensive library of other dinosaur books I have lovingly read to my son? Quite well actually! This is packed full with many dinosaur facts, and even expert that I am, I learned some new things as well. Although I still struggle to pronounce the names (even with the handy pronunciation guide at the beginning of the book). It’s laid out in a methodical way that isn’t confusing and using quick bullet point type facts, so there’s not reams of sentences to get lost in. My son really enjoyed the artwork and the book kept him completely captured enough to read it through together in one sitting. Which considering my son is also suspected of having ADHD, is no mean feet. He’s even told me that he wants a physical copy of the book for his birthday later in the year, so I can’t think of a better way to recommend it than that.

[MookNana]

An excellent enrichment book for budding scientists! Also a very enticing book for reluctant readers that's full of relatable trivia that can be tackled in manageable "bites".

The illustrations were vivid, colorful, and appealing. 8 year-old me would have regularly pulled this off the classroom library shelf and spent many happy hours learning about dinosaurs in fascinating depth! I love the breadth of topics covered (geological time, life cycle, social organization, eating habits, etc.). I also appreciated the pronunciation guide and quizzes. This would make a great addition to any elementary school or classroom library!

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

[Katie]

I really appreciated the pronunciation guide at the beginning of the book. That helped me to be able to read the book more fluidly without having to stop and stumble over all of the names of the dinosaurs. I loved the pictures. They were bright and engaging, sure to keep a child's attention. Some of the comparisons were probably over a child's head. It is even hard for me to visualize how long three alligators are. So in that regard, I felt like the book fell a bit short. I do think that children who are really, really into dinosaurs will love this book and it will help them learn new things.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group, Frances Lincoln Children’s Books for kindly providing me with a digital copy of this book for review.

[Jan]

Aimed to the early grades, but fun for any age. I do think that it is best read with the target audience before they choose to reread by themselves. The illustrations by Ana Seixas are simple, effective, and colorful. There are sections for pronunciations, fossil clues, size references, family groups, habitat (Ground, sky, ocean), diet, feathers/fur/scales. Looking forward to enjoying it with the grands!
I requested and received a free temporary ebook from Quarto Publishing Group – Frances Lincoln Children's Books/ Happy Yak via NetGalley. THANK YOU!

[Sara (Sjthroughthelookingglass)]

I was so excited to receive a copy of this book. My dad is a dinosaur enthusiast. He still has all his toy dinosaurs from when he was a kid that he then passed on to me and then passed on to my daughter. It's so fun cultivating this interest in another generation. From the bold bright illustrations, to the fun facts and comparisons, this book makes it so easy to develop an interest in dinosaurs. Well there's a lot of information covered, everything is presented in little bite sized chucks, perfect for my 4-yo.

[Catherine Craig (Angelic Light)]

This is a really fantastic and comprehensive book about dinosaurs and it has bright and colourful graphics, with lots of educational content. I really loved the book and my daughter did too, although she was a little bit scared of some of the dinosaurs. She was very interested in them though. This would be a great book to have in a school, as it is so knowledgeable and interesting. It is a wonderful book and I highly recommend it!

Many thanks to the author, publisher and Net Galley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Tara]

This is an engaging and nicely illustrated book about dinosaurs that my 5 year old loved. She asked lots of questions and the quizzes provide an interactive element to the book. It is something that she would look at herself and engage in for reading time. We loved going through this book together and will likely do so again in the future.

[Kate]

My boys really enjoyed this book! The pages are very visually pleasing and informative with tons of fun facts and comparisons. I especially enjoyed the section on prehistoric plants, as it brought something different to the typical dinosaur book.

[Alice Harker]

The book is interesting and fun but it’s more oriented towards teenagers than kids. My 9 years old loves dinosaurs and some pages he loved while others confused him. I was expecting a more of a children book.

[Daphnee]

This is a wonderful book for children who are really interested in facts, and the illustrations are lovely. Will save this one for when my daughter is older.

Thank you NetGalley for the free ebook copy in exchange of an honest review.

[Andréa]

Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

[Mehsi]

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.


My blog readers know that I am a big dinosaur fan and that I just cannot resist dinosaur books. Well, my readers also know I am not a fan of those feathery things they call dinosaurs these days. Haha. But I am willing to give books a shot. I was definitely curious about this one, I love books that compare x to y and I was interested to see what kind of things we would get comparisons to in regards to dinosaurs.

Sadly, I am disappointed. It wasn’t until page 20 that we got some actual comparisons. Before that there were some mentions in text that told us how big something was by comparing it to something we know, but there was no example. Until page 20 when we see a city scape and a couple of dinosaurs. Then it became truly fun. Because just mentioning it is great, but if that is all the comparing you are going to do then I wouldn’t call you a comparison book. You need to show me (and the rest of the people who read your book). Sadly, after just a few pages we were back to other dinosaurs facts and we only got a few fun comparisons, mostly in text. Then a few pages with comparisons, and then back to none/text. When I saw this book I expected comparisons, illustrated. Tons of them. A whole book about it. With ILLUSTRATED examples for all of it. Not just 14-ish pages out of 48….

Sure, the book was interesting to read, but if I wanted facts on dinosaurs I would have just grabbed one of the books I own, because the information is not new to me. I picked up this book because it seemed to have something new. And it did. At points. But just not enough that I would call this a Dinosaur Comparison book.

The illustrations were OK-ish. At times I liked the style, at other times the dinosaurs looked a bit too simple.

All in all, I sadly cannot rate this book high. Again, I wanted a book with ILLUSTRATED comparisons, not just a few pages here and there. I mean, a lot of books add comparisons (especially in text), if you want to name your book a comparison book go for it in a bold way with tons of ILLUSTRATED comparisons.

Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/

[Carol W]

Dinosaur books have always been a favourite for children for as long as there has been, well, dinosaur books!

You may already have a stack of Dinosaur books but this one is missing from your collection. It visits dinosaurs of the sky, ocean and land, many you may not have heard of. There are mini quizzes throughout the book that give the reader an opportunity to explore what they know and extend their thinking. This book goes the extra mile with comparisons that children can understand and relate to, such as an Argentinosaurus was as heavy as about six fire engines or twelve African bush elephants.

I love the 'Say the Name' section which shows you how to pronounce those tricky dinosaur names.

For age 5+