News About Dinosaurs, The

by Patricia Lauber

The author reveals the latest scientific discoveries and theories about the habitat, behavior, anatomy, characteristics, and other important aspects of the dinosaurs

Genres: Dinosaurs, Science, Picture Books

48 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1989

About the author

Patricia Lauber is the author of more than sixty-five books for young readers. Many of them are in the field of science, and their range reflects the diversity of her own interests - bats, dolphins, dogs, volcanoes, earthquakes, the ice ages, the Everglades, the planets, and earthworms.

Two of her books, SEEDS: POP STICK GLIDE and JOURNEY TO THE PLANETS, were nonfiction nominees for The American Book Award. She was the 1983 winner of The Washington Post/Children's Book Guild Award for her overall contribution to children's nonfiction literature.

As well as writing books, Ms. Lauber has been editor of Junior Scholastic, editor-in-chief of Science World, and chief editor, science and mathematics, of The New Book of Knowledge.

A graduate of Wellesley College, she is married and lives in Connecticut. When not writing, she enjoys hiking, sailing, traveling, cooking, reading, and listening to music.

Reviews

[Thomas Salerno · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book sure brings back some childhood memories. When I was a kid in the 1990's, I used to rent this book from my elementary school's library all the time. Reading it now as an adult, I can definitely see what attracted me to it. The News about Dinosaurs is filled with fascinating information sure to delight any child who's a dinosaur enthusiast. Almost every page is graced with beautiful artwork from the likes of Gregory S. Paul, Douglas Henderson, and other master paleo-artists. This book would have been among the first places I would have heard about warm-blooded dinosaurs, feathered dinosaurs, the asteroid impact extinction event, and other theories that we take for granted today but were still controversial ideas in the early 90's. The News about Dinosaurs still holds up after all these years. Dinosaur lovers of all ages are sure to love this book.

[Sol · Rating 4 out of 5]

The dinosaur renaissance for kids. Presents the old and new theories about dinosaurs (circa the mid 80s) with illustrative paleoart to go with each one. Posture, group behaviour, parental care, endothermy, bird-dinosaur connection (and feathered Deinonychus), meteor impact, everything's there. The artists are a greatest hits of the renaissance, Gregory S. Paul, Douglas Henderson, Mark Hallett and more. Every piece is credited by artist right on the page, which is very nice.

[Madison Roark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book would be a good book to introduce starting in kindergarten because you can teach them about fiction and non fiction and what the difference between each type of book are. In the second grade you could do a lesson on fact and opinion and how it looks different in word structure. This book introduces enticing questions about whether or not dinosaurs have tails and if they hold them up. I think these questions are what kids would ask in schools or about the subject and its being answered in this book.

[Cynthia Strobel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book for learning about dinosaurs. Has important facts. Would be good for history class.

[Connor Krawczynski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book that can teach kids about dinosaurs.

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book about dinosaurs. It follows the theme of "The News About Dinosaurs" by presenting old theories about dinosaurs and juxtaposing them with new theories and discoveries, always introducing the newer thoughts with "The news is"
The book discusses just about everything you'd want to know about dinosaurs, at least for a person with a casual or elementary interest in dinosaurs. We learn what they eat, how they interact with one another, habitat, how paleontologists make inferences based on comparing bone structures with those of modern animals and based on fossilized footprints. It's a fascinating to read, and it is accompanied by wonderful full-color illustrations pulled from a variety of sources, including an illustration by the original dinosaur artist Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins. The book succeeds in bringing dinosaurs to life and creating a believable world for them, a prehistoric world that kids can bring into their own imaginations.

This book would be perfect for students learning about the history of the earth, reptiles, living organisms, environments, or extinction. Boys especially will be drawn to this book, since they tend to like nonfiction books, and since dinosaurs are cool.
What I liked best about the illustrations is the scientific detail and realism that is incorporated in both the dinosaurs and the setting.

[Susie White · Rating 4 out of 5]

The News About Dinosaurs is an intentionally informative book on dinosaurs and how scientific discoveries have proven old stereotypes about the animals wrong. One example illustrated in the book is how all dinosaurs were thought to have been cold-blooded reptiles, but further discovery has revealed that certain dinosaurs like the Deinonychus were not only warm-blooded but likely ancestors of birds and even had feathers (Lauber, 1989). The News About Dinosaurs entails information about all sorts of dinosaurs, and notes how our knowledge about them is always evolving.
I learned so much from this book! Although the format was a bit outdated and unappealing, information provided in the book is really interesting and left open to change as scientists continue to discover more about the prehistoric animals. I think that this book would make an excellent addition to the classroom shelf as a book that any child could pick up and read during free time to learn more about dinosaurs.

Lauber, P. (1989). The News About Dinosaurs. New York: Simon & Schuster.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for teaching students the history of dinosaurs. In this book, different theories about dinosaurs are talked about as news. It compares old theories to new theories. It introduces the new theories by saying "the news is."

The book is filled with as much information about dinosaurs as anyone could hope to learn, but it is not too hard for children to read. The vocabulary is very kid friendly. The reader can learn everything from what dinosaurs ate and where they lived to bone structures and fossilized footprints.

The full color illustrations help the information pack words. They are bright and they help bring the words in the book to life for the readers. They bring this prehistoric world to the present for kids who are interested in dinosaurs or learning about them in school.

I would definitely recommend this for a science lesson or unit on dinosaurs for older readers.

[Rebekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was interesting for me because I have never read anything about dinosaurs before. I haven't even watched anything about dinosaurs since Land Before Time or Jurassic Park. This book would great for teachings students the history of dinosaurs or just having this book in your classroom for students to look through when they have free time. Teachers could easily use this as a tool to create projects for the students to research and learn about the different types of dinosaurs and the time when they existed. The book tells us the basic information about dinosaurs, like how fast they are. It also tells us some random dinosaur facts! It also goes into detail about each dinosaur and gives illustrations for readers to correlate the information with the picture. The illustrations are very detailed and colorful giving readers an exact replica of what the dinosaurs used to look like. This book would be good to use in any elementary classroom.

[Holly Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

For informational text I read the book The News about Dinosaurs. I read this book to my half brother who is 5 who LOVES dinosaurs. He really enjoyed learning new information about each dinosaur, always asking questions. Although he is only five years old, I would use this book in an older classroom during a research project. So if I was teaching third grade I would use standard W.3.2 "Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly." I would give students the opportunity to pick a topic. Especially for boys I would have this book ready for them to be able to read to find out information they may not have known before.

Also the illustrations bring the dinosaurs off of the page, making children want to continue looking in order to see what dinosaurs really looked. This way students, if they wanted to could use the great illustrations to draw their own pictures for the project.

[Rachel Atwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that this book is a good book to use for kids that are interested in learning about dinosaurs. This book is ordered in chronological order and the information presented in the book is laid out in a very educational way. The book starts out with older ideas about dinosaurs and then as the book goes on it shows how the ideas progressed and what made those ideas change. This book also has many different dinosaurs in the story making it very interesting to read because there is so much information. I really like the pictures within the story because they are a mixture between cartoonish drawings to pictures that look almost real. I think that this is a great book to use if you are discussing the topic of dinosaurs or looking into the history of the earth. I think kids will really enjoy this book overall.

[Kathryn Oyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This books is great for teachings students the history of dinosaurs. Teachers could easily use this as a tool to create projects for the students to research and learn about the different types of dinosaurs and the time when they existed. The book discusses basic information about dinosaurs, including how fast they are and that they are all warm-blooded creatures. It also goes into detail about each dinosaur and gives illustrations for readers to correlate the information with the picture. The illustrations are very detailed and colorful giving readers an exact replica of what the dinosaurs used to look like. This book would be good to use in a second or third grade classroom.

[Hannah Kersting · Rating 4 out of 5]

This books is perfect for students and teachers who are interested in learning and teaching more about dinosaurs. This book talks about what we used to know about dinosaurs and what we know now about dinosaurs. The book mentions that now dinosaurs are seen as fast moving and warm blooded creatures. The book talks about individual dinosaurs and the illustrations that go along with each dinosaur are phenomenal. This scientific book is great for students who are in love with dinosaurs or who want to learn more about them and is also a great book that can cross subjects in school.

[Lexie Haarsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is filled with information all about dinosaurs. What makes this one particularly interesting is that it takes old theories and proves them as true or false based on what we now know today. It shows the progressional advancements we have made in society over the years. I really enjoyed reading this, I think oftentimes we forget and view dinosaurs as fictional, as if they are in the same group as unicorns. This book is very informational and factual detailing all basic information on dinosaurs such as the different types, what they ate, time periods, etc. I think that this is perfect for a childrens book as they way it is written is perfectly suited in a way that a young student would easily understand, while at the same time, still staying true and factual.