This chapter book leads readers to imagine a fantasy world with fictional prehistoric dinosaurs. The timelines are confusing and readers have to imagine continent shifts, new body parts added to creatures from prehistoric and historical periods of time—all of which will wreak havoc on a young reader’s understanding of the time of dinosaurs. The text is full of hashtag phrases and modern lingo. There are big and small color pictures of the “dinosaurs,” including information about their sizes, names, time period, diets, and hangouts. One example is the “Doubledipper.” The hangouts listed for it are Monaco and Texas. Its biography reads: “Sure my head is shaped a little different than yours, the better to boomerang you with, my dear. Diet: Meat. I’m a Texan after all.” These humorous comments may be attempts to poke fun at more serious explanations, discussions, and texts about dinosaurs and their discovery, but young readers will simply be confused by these bogus facts and puzzling format. An introduction explaining this odd format and style would have been helpful. Reviewer: Enid Portnoy; Ages 8 to 12.
