Breakout Dinosaurs: Canada's Coolest, Scariest Ancient Creatures Return!

Sandy Campbell is a reference librarian in the Science and Technology Library at the University of Alberta.

Breakout Dinosaurs is an attractive picture book. Alan Bernard’s illustrations are bright and detailed. Dinosaurs are shown in deadly battles, covering a nest of eggs, grazing, swimming, and flying. Each illustration is accompanied by a photo of a skeleton, skull, or other fossil. There is, of course, the obligatory image of a coprolite, or fossilized poop. Most of the dinosaurs are brightly coloured. The text points out that although no one knows what colour dinosaurs were, the colours used here are based on the colours in modern-day lizards.

The text in the volume is unusual for the intended elementary school audience. Many of the sentences are very long, sometimes in excess of 30 words. They are often complex and compound in their structure, with internal and external references. I found myself often having to slow down or go back and re-read to make sure I understood what was meant. For example, reading the description of Hadrosaurs, which begins, “Hadrosaurs had wide, toothless beaks…,” I was stopped by the next line, which describes “an amazing set of teeth.” These apparently contradictory statements could have been reconciled with a few words indicating that the beak and the teeth were on the same jaw, just one back of the other. One might speculate that the textual difficulties are the result of the book’s multiple authors, including children’s author Hugh Brewster and several curators at the Royal Ontario Museum.

In spite of its difficulties, this is a book that children will use and enjoy. Recommended.