Big Babies

(Hardback)

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Description

For dinosaur lovers and fans of Steve Jenkins's Prehistoric Actual Size, this unexpected look at prehistoric life explores what is known about our favorite extinct creatures before they became massive, full-grown adults. How big (or small) was your favorite dinosaur-as a baby We see how some stack up, alongside childhood favorites such as a toy truck or a rubber duck. Did you know that T. rex hatchlings were only about the size of a turkey Or that the huge, long-necked brontosaurus are said to be only eleven pounds at birth In this early picture book, young readers learn that before dinos grew to be large and powerful, they started off as something much smaller to behold.

Reviews

A portrait gallery of baby dinos and dino cousins.

Going straight for the "AWWWW" reaction from viewers, O'Brien poses 11 big-eyed, usually fuzzy prehistoric hatchlings on plain white backgrounds in front of huge, slightly blurred parental legs that extend past the page tops. He doesn't stint on the factual load, either. Along with identifying labels, each creature comes with an informative one- or two-sentence comment, such as, for the stegosaurus ("roofed lizard"): "This pint-sized critter grew into a leaf-eater that had a body the size of an elephant but a brain the size of a meatball." Just for reference, a plate of meatballs is placed temptingly in front of the little stego...and all the rest of the dino tykes likewise come with either food (notably a box of doughnuts being thoroughly mangled by a tiny triceratops) or plastic toys ranging from a rubber ducky delighting a dinky Anatotitan ("giant duck") to a race car zooming past a trio of downy velociraptors ("swift thief"). A baby T. rex ("tyrant lizard king") gazing out sweetly, ensconced in a comparatively huge crown, is an especially adorable addition. Following a set of additional descriptive notes at the end, budding dino-fans will find silhouettes of the babies lined up on a comparative size chart--with a four-foot-tall human child towering commandingly over all.

Awwwwesomely cute.

--Kirkus Reviews

Author Bio

Patrick O'Brien is a full-time illustrator who has also authored twelve children books to date, including the Captain Raptor series; You Are the First Kid on Mars; Gigantic!- How Big Were the Dinosaurs; A Pirate's Life for Me; and Steam, Smoke, and Steel. He has also worked for National Geographic, Discovery Channel, and the Smithsonian, with his art appearing in magazines, newspapers, posters, greeting cards, and even on billboards. Patrick currently teaches at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD.