Review Detail

Atlas of Prehistoric Animals takes you through three different periods, the Paleozoic Era, the Mesozoic Era, and the Cenozoic Era. Each page takes you through the evolution of various species showing you what they looked like, providing information about size, weight, and more.

What I Liked: I love learning new facts about prehistoric animals as they were something I wasn’t too interested in as a child. I loved that this book included facts that the typical books I read hadn’t informed me about so I was learning new things as I read.

On each page, there is a small image comparing the size of the animal with a human which I found amusing. I loved getting to see how ridiculously large some of these creatures were and then in contrast how small some of them were. I loved that to show the size comparison there was either a silhouette of a full body or a silhouette of a hand.

I appreciated that each page opened with a large image of what professionals believe these creatures look like before providing you with information. I also like that on top of the information we get a glimpse of the similar creatures we are going to learn about. I appreciate that this short evolutionary guide is given not only in text but also through the images.

What Left Me Wanting More: I was hoping that each page would come with a pronunciation guide as that did hold me up as I was reading. I feel that a pronunciation guide would help younger readers as well as they are learning about animals they are not familiar with.

Final Verdict: Atlas of Prehistoric Animals is a great encyclopedia for children ages 9 and up who are fascinated by dinosaurs. This book will teach them about the oldest animals on earth which they may already know and introduce them to animals that they have yet to learn about. Adults will also enjoy learning new facts about each of these animals that they may never have heard about either.