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Why Did T. rex Have Short Arms?: And Other Questions about Dinosaurs (Good Question!) by Melissa Stewart
When did the first dinosaurs appear on Earth? What happened to them 65 million years ago? How do we know about dinosaurs—and are there any still alive today? Dinosaurs are absolutely irresistible—and children will love learning about these fascinating creatures and looking at the cool illustrations!
Hardcover
First published July 1, 2014
11 people want to read
About the author
Melissa Stewart
290 books183 followersMelissa Stewart is the award-winning author of more than 180 science and nature books for children. She offers a wide range of programs for schools, libraries, nature centers, and conferences. www.melissa-stewart.com"
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 29, 2017
This book is a delightful introductory overview of the wonderful world of dinosaurs! Although its audience is children in the elementary grades, it will appeal to dino fans (like myself) from any age group. Large, colorful, yet scientifically accurate illustrations accompany each question-and-answer section of the book, which is formatted in two-page spreads for easy linking of text and picture. After describing various dinosaurs' physiology and lifeways, the book concludes with the mass extinction of 66 million years ago but ends on a happy note because the birds, the dinos' descendants, survived and are still with us today. :)
All in all, a great read for longtime dino fans and for those who are just getting to know these amazing creatures of the distant past.
All in all, a great read for longtime dino fans and for those who are just getting to know these amazing creatures of the distant past.
January 15, 2024
I picked this one up for the illustrator, but the text is a good introduction to dinos, too. It's written so you can read each question page out of order, rather than building up a collection of terms as you go.
I especially liked the way the author encourages children to think about the animal world as a whole. For example, there is the question, "When did dinosaurs sleep?" The answer starts out by asking the reader to think about animals today - some sleep at night, some in the daytime, some don't sleep much at all. The same was true of dinosaurs, and the book gives some examples.
Throughout the book, all measurements are given in metric and standard. There's also a comparison size chart in the back with 22 of the mentioned dinosaurs.
I especially liked the way the author encourages children to think about the animal world as a whole. For example, there is the question, "When did dinosaurs sleep?" The answer starts out by asking the reader to think about animals today - some sleep at night, some in the daytime, some don't sleep much at all. The same was true of dinosaurs, and the book gives some examples.
Throughout the book, all measurements are given in metric and standard. There's also a comparison size chart in the back with 22 of the mentioned dinosaurs.
October 5, 2017
It's long for a read aloud but it is great for young readers who have a desire to learn more about dinosaurs. It has great facts and a lot of different dinosaurs to read about.
February 11, 2024
The paleoart is the only good part ( www.amazon.com/review/RRMG7G6JUAPF7/r... ): 2/5
If you want the best digital paleoart, get Csotonyi/White's "The Paleoart of Julius Csotonyi". If you can't afford Csotonyi/White's book, get Stewart's "Why Did T. rex Have Short Arms?: And Other Questions about Dinosaurs" (henceforth Arms). Arms is some of Csotonyi's best work next to his Oxford University Museum of Natural History labels ( https://morethanadodo.com/2015/08/07/... ). In terms of paleoart, Csotonyi is basically "Peter Zallinger, Doug Henderson and Greg Paul" combined into 1 awesome being ( www.amazon.com/Paleoart-Julius-Csoton... ). Unfortunately, the paleoart is the only good part of Arms.
As you may remember, I generally dislike the dino Q&A genre for 3 main reasons: 1) Redundant questions; 2) Vague answers; 3) Bad Q&As (I.e. Stupid or misleading questions & misleading or wrong answers). Arms, while not the worst Children's dino Q&A book, is still very bad:
-Redundant questions? Uncheck (There are only 16 questions), but Arms more than makes up for this in the following ways.
-Vague answers? Check times infinity! The 1st Stewart quote is the worst because it answers 1 of the biggest questions in science with a vague "just so" story (See the penultimate paragraph).
-Bad Q&As? Check times infinity! The 1st Stewart quote is the worst because it fails on many levels: It contradicts itself from a previous Q&A (See the 2nd Stewart quote; If "birds are a group of dinosaurs", then people did, & still do, "live at the same time as dinosaurs"); It avoids using the word "evolution" (as does the rest of Arms); It fails to understand that "developed" =/= "evolved" ( www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/04... ); It fails to get the facts straight (E.g. To quote Witmer, Archaeopteryx looked like "just another feathered predatory dinosaur"; Each wing had 3 LONG fingers); It fails to explain what it means by "dino-bird". & if that's not bad enough, it isn't even illustrated with Csotonyi's Archaeopteryx, but with a stock photo of a shameless rip-off of Sibbick's Archaeopteryx with a scaly dragon face & "Wings...but with hands!" ( www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustrati... ).*
In short, I recommend getting Arms ONLY for the paleoart. If you want to know "Why Did T. rex Have Short Arms", google "Why the T. rex had teeny tiny arms - CNET".
*Google "Vintage Dinosaur Art: The Age of Dinosaurs" for "Wings...but with hands!"
Quoting Stewart: "Are there any dinosaurs alive today?
Believe it or not, birds are the modern relatives of dinosaurs. In fact, T. rex is more closely related to a blue jay than to an alligator.
Most paleontologists think that birds are a group of dinosaurs that developed around 150 million years ago. Archaeopteryx[...]may be the earliest true bird discovered so far. It lived in central Europe about 150 million years ago.
Archaeopteryx looked like a cross between a lizard and a bird. Like a lizard, it had sharp teeth and a long tail. Its body was covered in feathers, and it had wings. But each wing had three small fingers with claws on the ends.
Scientists think that feathers first developed to help dinosaurs stay warm. Over time, feathers became larger and dino-bird bodies became more equipped to fly. At some point, feathered dinosaurs got a split-second of extra "lift" when they pounced on prey. This gave them an advantage over other small dinosaurs and helped them survive. As their bodies continued to change, dino-birds learned to glide. Eventually, they took flight.
By the time an asteroid struck Earth 65 million years ago, many kinds of dino-birds lived all over the world. Some of them survived the disaster and developed into the birds we see today."
Quoting Stewart: "Did people live at the same time as dinosaurs?
No way! The earliest humans walked the earth around 2.3 million years ago. By then, dinosaurs had been dead and gone for more than 60 million years.
Our ancient relatives shared the world with large herbivores such as woolly mammoths and giant ground sloths. They worried about being attacked by cave bears and saber-tooth cats. None of these larger mammals are alive today. They are extinct. Scientists are still trying to figure out why they disappeared."
If you want the best digital paleoart, get Csotonyi/White's "The Paleoart of Julius Csotonyi". If you can't afford Csotonyi/White's book, get Stewart's "Why Did T. rex Have Short Arms?: And Other Questions about Dinosaurs" (henceforth Arms). Arms is some of Csotonyi's best work next to his Oxford University Museum of Natural History labels ( https://morethanadodo.com/2015/08/07/... ). In terms of paleoart, Csotonyi is basically "Peter Zallinger, Doug Henderson and Greg Paul" combined into 1 awesome being ( www.amazon.com/Paleoart-Julius-Csoton... ). Unfortunately, the paleoart is the only good part of Arms.
As you may remember, I generally dislike the dino Q&A genre for 3 main reasons: 1) Redundant questions; 2) Vague answers; 3) Bad Q&As (I.e. Stupid or misleading questions & misleading or wrong answers). Arms, while not the worst Children's dino Q&A book, is still very bad:
-Redundant questions? Uncheck (There are only 16 questions), but Arms more than makes up for this in the following ways.
-Vague answers? Check times infinity! The 1st Stewart quote is the worst because it answers 1 of the biggest questions in science with a vague "just so" story (See the penultimate paragraph).
-Bad Q&As? Check times infinity! The 1st Stewart quote is the worst because it fails on many levels: It contradicts itself from a previous Q&A (See the 2nd Stewart quote; If "birds are a group of dinosaurs", then people did, & still do, "live at the same time as dinosaurs"); It avoids using the word "evolution" (as does the rest of Arms); It fails to understand that "developed" =/= "evolved" ( www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/04... ); It fails to get the facts straight (E.g. To quote Witmer, Archaeopteryx looked like "just another feathered predatory dinosaur"; Each wing had 3 LONG fingers); It fails to explain what it means by "dino-bird". & if that's not bad enough, it isn't even illustrated with Csotonyi's Archaeopteryx, but with a stock photo of a shameless rip-off of Sibbick's Archaeopteryx with a scaly dragon face & "Wings...but with hands!" ( www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustrati... ).*
In short, I recommend getting Arms ONLY for the paleoart. If you want to know "Why Did T. rex Have Short Arms", google "Why the T. rex had teeny tiny arms - CNET".
*Google "Vintage Dinosaur Art: The Age of Dinosaurs" for "Wings...but with hands!"
Quoting Stewart: "Are there any dinosaurs alive today?
Believe it or not, birds are the modern relatives of dinosaurs. In fact, T. rex is more closely related to a blue jay than to an alligator.
Most paleontologists think that birds are a group of dinosaurs that developed around 150 million years ago. Archaeopteryx[...]may be the earliest true bird discovered so far. It lived in central Europe about 150 million years ago.
Archaeopteryx looked like a cross between a lizard and a bird. Like a lizard, it had sharp teeth and a long tail. Its body was covered in feathers, and it had wings. But each wing had three small fingers with claws on the ends.
Scientists think that feathers first developed to help dinosaurs stay warm. Over time, feathers became larger and dino-bird bodies became more equipped to fly. At some point, feathered dinosaurs got a split-second of extra "lift" when they pounced on prey. This gave them an advantage over other small dinosaurs and helped them survive. As their bodies continued to change, dino-birds learned to glide. Eventually, they took flight.
By the time an asteroid struck Earth 65 million years ago, many kinds of dino-birds lived all over the world. Some of them survived the disaster and developed into the birds we see today."
Quoting Stewart: "Did people live at the same time as dinosaurs?
No way! The earliest humans walked the earth around 2.3 million years ago. By then, dinosaurs had been dead and gone for more than 60 million years.
Our ancient relatives shared the world with large herbivores such as woolly mammoths and giant ground sloths. They worried about being attacked by cave bears and saber-tooth cats. None of these larger mammals are alive today. They are extinct. Scientists are still trying to figure out why they disappeared."
August 5, 2014
This is an iffy 4 stars, although I particularly loved the illustrations in this book. I found myself drifting a little, as the book read a bit too much like a list - so many different types of dinosaurs mentioned (most of which I'd never heard of, which is not surprising; they keep discovering remains and have even renamed at least one dinosaur since my childhood). And, I found myself thinking, "Yes, but . . . tell me more about --," meaning I came up with far too many further questions. In particular, I wanted to know the background. How, for example, do paleontologists know that some dinosaurs tended their nests and others didn't? How do they know that some roamed in herds? As an adult, I can intuit the possible evidence but I'd still like to know what that evidence consists of. If it's known that a type of dinosaur traveled in herds, does that mean at least one herd has been found? Where?
As to the illustrations, I thought they were beautiful and so realistic that I almost felt like I could reach into them. As I was reading, I was disappointed that not all the dinosaurs described were shown in the accompanying illustrations. But, there's a single 2-spread illustration that shows about 20 different dinosaurs, at the end of the book. So, that may cover those not shown earlier. I didn't look them all up to make certain. Also, I would have liked to see an image of an archeologist working to recover bones, rather than just dinosaurs in their environments. I especially enjoyed the description of how dinosaurs became extinct. Both the description and illustration were very evocative of time and place.
Criticisms aside, I liked the book and I think it would be particularly enjoyable for a child who is crazy about dinosaurs. It occurs to me, as I'm writing, that I'm a little burned out on dinosaur books and should avoid them in the future. I received Why Did T-Rex Have Short Arms? from the publisher and will mention that to them. I've no longer got small children but I still review children's books because I enjoy them.
As to the illustrations, I thought they were beautiful and so realistic that I almost felt like I could reach into them. As I was reading, I was disappointed that not all the dinosaurs described were shown in the accompanying illustrations. But, there's a single 2-spread illustration that shows about 20 different dinosaurs, at the end of the book. So, that may cover those not shown earlier. I didn't look them all up to make certain. Also, I would have liked to see an image of an archeologist working to recover bones, rather than just dinosaurs in their environments. I especially enjoyed the description of how dinosaurs became extinct. Both the description and illustration were very evocative of time and place.
Criticisms aside, I liked the book and I think it would be particularly enjoyable for a child who is crazy about dinosaurs. It occurs to me, as I'm writing, that I'm a little burned out on dinosaur books and should avoid them in the future. I received Why Did T-Rex Have Short Arms? from the publisher and will mention that to them. I've no longer got small children but I still review children's books because I enjoy them.
October 11, 2015
Brilliant illustrations of a wide variety of dinosaurs of all sizes and a lively text answer questions about them. Only one tiny disappointment comes from the answer to the book’s title, “Scientists aren’t sure.” But there’s a maybe: “Some paleontologists think T. rex may have used its arms to carry food. Because its skull was so heavy, carrying food in its mouth could have caused the dinosaur to lose its balance and tip over.”
April 4, 2017
My dinosaur-obsessed three-year-old got this from the library and has devoured it like a hungry Tyrannosaurus every day since then. This book is a fantastic start for anyone who's just starting to dig deeper into dinosaurs. It covers the basics really well (What did dinosaurs eat? What happened to the dinosaurs?, but it also answers questions I had never considered before, which is a lot of fun (Were dinosaurs good parents? When did dinosaurs sleep?). My toddler learned a lot from this book, and I did, too. And the illustrations are wonderful!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews