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Dinosaurs
To Colour and Facts To Discover
Claire Scully
Buster Books (Michael
O’Mara Books Ltd)
1 June 2017 / ISBN 9781780554563
Juvenile-Adult/Coloring
Reviewed
by Rachel A Hyde
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Dinosaurs
have captured people’s imaginations since they were first
described, and here is a quality coloring book featuring thirty
of the impressive beasts. Not only that, but also some facts
about each one.
What’s not to love? There is a surprising lack of dinosaur
themed coloring books and I have been on the hunt for a good
one for some time. Now I have found it, but as it has been published
by Michael O’Mara’s juvenile imprint I might have
missed it! This book has wider appeal than that with fairly
intricate pictures that older children and adults alike will
enjoy coloring. Claire Scully is one of the team that produced
the series of coloring books that began with The Menagerie,
and here she lends her expertise to this overlooked subject.
Expect the same high quality as you get with the adult series,
namely smooth bright white paper, visible black lines with no
pixels and nothing vanishing into the spine. The paper could
be thicker but at least each picture only has the facts behind
it, so if you are into pens, do read them first and put a sheet
of paper underneath. I would suggest pencils as being the best
choice, as with most coloring books with permanent markers like
Shapies and paints being unsuitable. A light touch with gel
and watercolor pens is recommended and an adult with a sharp
knife to carefully remove pictures for mounting as there are
no perforations. Like the rest of the Menagerie series, this
book has the trademark features of a small colored background
detail (usually foliage) on each page; a nice touch. All the
usual suspects are here including T Rex, triceratops, stegosaurus,
archaeopteryx and diplodocus as well as some lesser known and
more recently discovered creatures like spinosaurus, liopleurodon,
deinocheirus, brachytrachelopan and miragaia. Opposite to each
picture is a page of facts including pronunciation, silhouette
showing a person for scale and several well-spaced facts. These
include what was it, where and when did it live and what does
the name mean, plus two other facts pertaining to whatever particular
features it had. At the beginning is a double page spread with
a simple diagram of dinosaur families, plus a list of their
various habitats and a piece about when the age of dinosaurs
occurred. There is no color guide as nobody knows what colors
they were – this part is up to the colorist! An index
would have been nice but like the rest of this series this is
a coloring book to buy, enjoy and treasure whatever your age.
Highly recommended.
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