How Dinosaurs Took Flight: The Fossils, the Science, What We Think We Know, and Mysteries Yet Unsolved (Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 (Awards)) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This slim (64 pages) volume carries a hefty price tag, but at this point it's worth it, because there isn't a lot on the market covering the dinosaurs-with-feathers subject (so far as I know). Dr. Xu Xing, who wrote the foreward, is a notable character in the unfolding drama of feathered fossils being found in China.
I consider this book a bit radical in that it runs with the theory of dinosaurs being birds (or was it vice versa?), calling them all dinosaurs: nonavian dinosaurs for the "dinosaurs" and avian dinosaurs for the "birds." It is written in a fairly simple and straightforward manner; I think it is a YA title although I mostly bought it for myself (as a parent having just taken the kids to see the James Gurney's Dinotopia exhibit and activites at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge MA). I think one might want to read it with a child, so that, for example, a younger reader might not end up being teased for insisting that birds are dinosaurs. The theory is out there, it's current, but it's not completely validated yet. I would like to see more well illustrated books on the subject, but this one is a great start.

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How did dinosaurs get feathers? How did they start flying? What use were feathers to dinosaurs that didn't fly? Chris Sloan's 2000 book Feathered Dinosaurs introduced kids to the radical idea that some dinosaurs had feathers and that birds are, in fact, a subset of dinosaurs. In How Dinosaurs Took Flight, Sloan returns to these ancient feathered creatures to introduce kids to the fascinating new finds—including a Tyrannosaur with feathers and a dinosaur with not just two but four wings. The author focuses on the tough new questions scientists are asking right now, the evidence they've gathered, the hypotheses that are developing from the evidence, and the unknowns that remain. This book will be the most up-to-date children's book on this topic on the market.

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