Dinosaurs Can Be Small
by Darrin Lunde; illus. by Ariel Landy
Preschool, Primary    Charlesbridge    32 pp.
9/24    9781623543303    $17.99
e-book ed.  9781632893048    $9.99

Six familiar and quite large dinosaurs or prehistoric reptiles are paired with structurally or behaviorally similar—but tinier—species (readers can refer to helpful insets for illustrations showing to-scale size comparisons). The “meat-eating” Tyrannosaurus has a smaller relative, Compsognathus, also a carnivore, but with a diet of insects. The “dome-headed” Pachycephalosaurus is matched with the aptly named owner of the longest dinosaur species name: Micropachycephalosaurus. Simple sentences, repeated across the pages, emphasize structure-function relationships. The cartoonlike illustrations of the dinosaurs engaged in hunting, swimming, eating, and flying use soft features and expressive eyes to keep the mood friendly—even through the meteor strike that killed off the large dinosaurs and left the smaller, birdlike dinosaurs alive. An appended glossary gives the Greek origins of each species name.

From the ">November/December 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.