Books & Literature

Book Review: The Prehistoric Times, by Stella Gurney

A magazine-style book for young people that uncovers the life of dinosaurs through short articles, interviews (with discerning dinosaurs) and puzzles.

Although The Prehistoric Times is only 32 pages long, this magazine-style book is jam-packed with historical facts about dinosaurs and prehistoric Earth, all cleverly disguised in a range of short articles, puzzles and quick interviews with discerning dinosaurs. It was published in conjunction with the Natural History Museum in London but is far more exciting than just looking at bones!

Printed in black, red and white colours, each page is busy in style and content. While Stella Gurney may have written this stella book for young readers, it’s the contributor articles that make it so informative and fun. Articles like Very Vegetarian, written by Valerie Venenosaurus looks at herbavores of the era, while a commentary by Troodie Troodon questions why dinosaurs have such a bad rap with parenting.

Word searches, mazes and dot-to-dot activities are found throughout his book, along with plenty of dinosaur profiles and advertising for cool things like your very own Fino-spine, duckbills and trills, and Barry-Onyx’s Fish Bar.

The illustrations by Matthew Hodson and Neave Parker are equal fun and add to the business of each page. I found myself reading faster to keep up the visual excitement of each page.

For lovers of dinosaurs, The Prehistoric Times is an absolute must-have. There’s so much information about so many aspects of these incredible creatures and their life. For anyone who just likes a fun read or lots of puzzles, it’s also well worth checking out before the next meteorite shower is predicted by Doomsday Dino.

Reviewed by Rod Lewis
Twitter: @StrtegicRetweet

Rating out of 10:  9

Released by: Allen & Unwin
Release Date: May 2017

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