Dig Those Dinosaurs

December 15, 2012
New and preliterate readers will happily clap along to the incantatory rhythms of this primary-level call to "dig, dig, dig"--in both senses of the word--dino fossils. Using repetition and rhyme, Houran comments as paleontologists carefully excavate fossils from a site, wrap them up for shipment ("So big, big, big those dinosaurs / Big, big, big those dinosaurs..."), then lay them out in a museum lab ("Jig, jig, jigsaw dinosaurs"), to be assembled ("Rig, rig, rig...") into a display with painted backdrops and finally surrounded by a flood of admiring museumgoers. With simplified but reasonable accuracy, Marquez depicts each stage of the process in softly modeled, harmoniously colored scenes, and her crew of paleontologists is diverse in both ethnicity and gender (although, sadly, the crew supervisor is a bespectacled white man). Both author and illustrator digestibly expand on each step of the process in a closing spread. A rousing prelude to Aliki's more detailed dino discourses, tailor-made for reading aloud. (Informational picture book. 3-5)

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April 1, 2013

PreS-Houran's rhyming text is just right for chanting (or singing along to the tune of "Skip to My Lou") at storytimes. As each stage of the process repeats ("Dig, dig, dig those dinosaurs" times three), young paleontologists carefully excavate dinosaur bones, assembling and displaying them in a museum. Two spreads are devoted to each of five verses. Marquez's pleasant illustrations portray the smiling crew members and museum visitors in soft, pastel shades. There is a major flaw, however; the triceratops skeletons are presented with their tails dragging on the ground, which is contrary to current scientific theory. Brief explanations of the five stages mentioned in the rhyme appear at the end of the book (where another dinosaur tail is correctly drawn). Librarians will have to weigh the book's child-appeal against the illustration mistake when deciding whether or not to purchase.-Martha Simpson, Stratford Library Association, CT

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2013
Preschool-K This nonfiction book for the youngest follows a team of five paleontologists from dinosaur-bone discovery through exhibition at the museum. The text is sparse, consisting of rhyming variations on dig. For example, the text moves from dig, dig, dig those dinosaurs to so big, big, big those dinosaurs and beyond. The text is most important at the end of the book, when fuller (and fascinating) explanations are given for each component, including facts like how useful toothbrushes and toilet paper are for, respectively, cleaning dinosaur bones and wrapping the bones at the site. The gentle illustrations are soft and approachable while still supplying enough detail to understand the various complicated tasks, like piecing the bones together and rigging them (filling in the blanks of the skeleton and repairing broken bones) into a recognizable skeleton. Solid factual info for pint-size dino fanatics heading to the museum.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2013
From "dig, dig, dig..." to "rig, rig, rig those dinosaur bones" (to a final figurative "dig" as kids enjoy the display), this book uses a simple repetitive refrain to explain how paleontologists collect, ship, and mount a dinosaur exhibit for a museum. Though somewhat static, the pictures extend the text nicely. Back matter adds factual details to each step.

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)