Gigantic!

by Patrick O'Brien

A witty set of comparisons that places ancient dinosaurs side by side with modern-day objects.

Dinosaurs were gigantic beasts that walked on Earth long before humans appeared. Everybody knows the dinosaurs were BIG, but how big is BIG? As big as a fire engine? As small as a chicken?

Patrick O'Brien's marvelous illustrations place dinosaurs side by side with modern-day animals, vehicles, and people so that children can easily grasp how the dinosaurs would stack up if they were around today.

Genres: Dinosaurs, Picture Books, Nonfiction, Childrens

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Patrick O'Brien has been a full-time illustrator and artist since 1985. His clients have included National Geographic, The Discovery Channel, and the Smithsonian. His art has appeared in magazines and newspapers, on posters and greeting cards, and even on billboards.

Patrick is the author and illustrator of twelve picture books for children. These are mostly non-fiction books about things like knights, pirates, ships, and dinosaurs, although he has done a couple of science-ficition books about dinosaurs in space.

In 2003 Patrick began creating oil paintings of maritime scenes. In 2010 the U.S. Naval Academy Museum mounted an exhibition featuring twenty-eight of his maritime paintings. In 2012, The National Maritime Historical Society awarded O’Brien with their Distinguished Service Award for his body of artwork. See www.PatrickOBrienStudio.com

Patrick teaches part-time in the illustration department at The Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD.

Reviews

[Laura McLoughlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some solid dinosaur information and nice pictures to show scale, but not my favorite dinosaur book I've read with the 6 year old.

[Salsabrarian]

You get a real sense of how big the dinosaurs were in this picture book. A stegosaurus stands alongside a VW Bug, a brachiosaurus towers over a cherry picker and a seismosaurus dwarfs a bulldozer.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

How fun! Sparse text but super cool illustrations of dinosaurs next to modern-day objects or animals, to show the scale.

[Kardena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gigantic by Patrick was a great book! I liked this book because it was a lot of fun to read. I read this book to my younger cousin and I think he would really enjoyed it. He likes dinosaurs and he was so interested to compare the sizes of the dinosaurs and comparing them to the things in today's world. I thought the only reason why he liked this book so much was because he was a boy, but I read this book to my younger cousin Kayla and she liked the book to. So I think I could read this book to any group of kids.