This book never gives the reader a clear cut definition of what a dinosaur was, either in the front section entitled “What is a dinosaur?” or in the glossary. Though the book is divided into three sections: The world of the dinosaurs, Triassic and Jurassic, and Cretaceous dinosaurs each section is somewhat abstract / random  in delivery of the information, but intermediate aged readers will still be pleased. An example, on pages 40-41 it is stated that Compsognathus means “Elegant jaw”. The page shows the teeth of five different animals ( Megalosaurus, lion, Troodon, human, and T.rex)  but not the tooth of a Compsognathus.  Should the reader draw the conclusion that meat-eating teeth are all pointed, so the Compsognathus’ were, too?

On pages 16-17 it states, ” We know of about 540 kinds of dinosaurs, but as many as 900 kinds might have lived, or perhaps more.”  The words ‘may’, ‘might’, and ‘probably’ are found through this book.

On the plus side, this book does separate the Triassic and Jurassic from the Cretaceous periods in chronological order. It shows a wonderful two-page spread photo of the Dinosaur National Monument in Utah. And it devotes 4 pages of photos mixed with text to SUE the largest Tyrannosaurus Rex ever found.

The book’s text ends with, “Recent technology and new fossils are giving us fresh information all the time. What will we discover next?” (p 74-75)

Very little new information, if any, was found in this book, perhaps that was all saved for the ‘free digital book’ download.