Feathered Dinosaurs

Gr 2–5—Considering the flood of feathery dinosaurs being unearthed in newly found fossil beds, this attractive addition is timely. Guiberson's brief, informative paragraphs of text are accompanied by Low's soft-edged, realistic oil and acrylic paintings, presenting a baker's dozen of feathered (and nonfeathered) critters, all demonstrating the evolutionary path from toothy therapod to the raucous blue jays fussing at backyard feeders. Guiberson provides such wondrous details as the discovery of melanosomes on some fossils, which indicate the actual coloration of the living beast. Who knew Sinosauropteryx had a tail ringed in orange and white? Or Anchiornis a bright red crest? There is no time line on which to orient these new finds in Earth's long history, nor is there a global map to file them in our mental GPS. A long bibliography (comprised mostly of adult titles) is included. Definitely more up-to-date than Dougal Dixon's simple Bambiraptor and Other Featured Dinosaurs (Picture Window, 2008) or Christopher Sloane's excellent How Dinosaurs Took Flight: The Fossils, the Science, What We Think We Know, and Mysteries Yet Unsolved (National Geographic, 2005), this will fill the information gap while more detailed works are in progress.