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Encyclopedia Prehistorica
Encyclopedia Prehistorica
This third and final volume of the bestselling "Encyclopedia Prehistorica" series tackles the furry titans of the ancient world. Fearsome sabre-toothed cats, bears taller than basketball hoops and everyone's favourite Ice Age giant, the woolly mammoth, come to life through 35 astounding pop-ups. Full of captivating facts, this is the ultimate book for monster-lovers to tear into!
Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
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163 people want to read
About the author
Robert Sabuda
117 books160 followersRobert Sabuda is internationally acclaimed for his stunning pop-up books, including America the Beautiful and The 12 Days of Christmas. He is also the illustrator of Chanukah Lights by Michael J. Rosen. Robert Sabuda lives in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
January 11, 2015
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Have you ever wondered about how animals looked like in the past?
The exuberant non fiction Encyclopedia Prehistorica (Mega Beasts) was courtly authored by renowned masters Robert Sabuda and Mathew ReinHart. Once the book starts, the reader immediately plunges into the world of sky lizards dating to about 150 million years ago! The reader finds out about naturalists and paleontologists finding the first flying dinosaur fossil in 1784. Next after learning all about lizards and cold blooded organisms, the book gives birth to the rise of the mammals. Whiskers and fur are introduced to the world which leads to the paleozoic era (started 575 million years ago and ended 245 million years ago). This chapter explains how mammals were created and who where the first mammals to roam the earth. After a long time of mammals leading the earth, some mammals evolved into what humans consider to be the big, the bad, and the ugly. These animals like the simosthenurus used to be wombats and now have turned into giant oversized bears. Not only the mammals evolved, but so did the birds. Mostly herbivores, these gigantic ostriches called moas didn’t harm anything and did’t act violent unless provoked. Later after this growth spurt of the animals and dinosaurs, weird and never seen animals have appeared such as, hairy turtles, horned giraffes, and gophers with spike heads. Although these animals were not terrifying, they were extremely dangerous. Even 15,000 years ago these animals still lived on earth. Unfortunately these animals were forced to extinction because of disease and hunters. The hunters indeed were the most ferocious prehistoric predators. Saber-toothed lions would roam the lands and would fight against bears and tigers which could crack bones with there teeth. Surprisingly, there were few predators and dangerous animals near Australia, only pouched marsupial wolfs. These were the obvious ancestors of kangaroos. Finally, about 1 million years ago, temperatures plummeted, and earth had survive a series of harsh ice ages. During this period of time, woolly mammoths and Lion Kings appeared and roamed the earth until the temperatures went back to normal killing them or icing the remains of all the ice age monsters. In conclusion Robert and Mathew’s outstanding paperback was informative and helpful.
After reading this book, I still had a couple of questions that really keep me thinking: When did dinosaurs appear on earth?, Where there any dinosaurs with mammal like features.When did prehistoric mammals go extinct?, What other reasons made them go extinct?, What did the marsupial wolfs in Australia use their pouches for?, When was the first sabertooth lion live and start the breed?, Where there any dinosaurs with mammal like features?, When did prehistoric mammals go extinct?, What other reasons made them go extinct?, What did the marsupial wolfs in Australia use their pouches for?, When was the first sabertooth lion live and start the breed? Second I wrote an acrostic poem about my story and the beasts in it: Materialistic Arts
Entertaining Facts
Ghostlike Creatures
Abnormal turtles
Belated Mammal Takeover
Ecstatic Lions
Awesome Authors
Shaggy Horns
Terrible Bears
Finally, the woolly mammoth pop art was my favorite illustration for several reasons. First, after reading the history of the woolly mammoth, I found it nicer and more realistic. Second, the mammoth reminded me of Ice Age the movie. Finally this was my favorite illustration because it was the most detailed one and possessed me while looking at it. In conclusionThis illustration was my favorite throughout the whole book.
Mega Beasts is a book that I would recommend to the sixth grade audience for many clear reasons. First of all, the book is contains huge pop art illustrations that capture your attention and make you want to read the captions and explanations. The information inside the captions are really easy to understand and even the most reluctant reader would like to give it a try. While reading the book, you will want to answer questions you never thought you would want an answer for. The non fiction miracle goes through everything and leaves no loose endings which makes it good for sixth graders. This book wouldn’t be a good choice for readers which are more literature preferring and don’t enjoy facts. This book is a book that everyone would be satisfied as a good read but not enjoy it so much. For instance, sometimes throughout the captions you would find a boring fact even though it is necessary. This might not convene people who like to keep the story interesting. Hence, this book has its ups and downs but still is an excellent read for the sixth grade audience.
Have you ever wondered about how animals looked like in the past?
The exuberant non fiction Encyclopedia Prehistorica (Mega Beasts) was courtly authored by renowned masters Robert Sabuda and Mathew ReinHart. Once the book starts, the reader immediately plunges into the world of sky lizards dating to about 150 million years ago! The reader finds out about naturalists and paleontologists finding the first flying dinosaur fossil in 1784. Next after learning all about lizards and cold blooded organisms, the book gives birth to the rise of the mammals. Whiskers and fur are introduced to the world which leads to the paleozoic era (started 575 million years ago and ended 245 million years ago). This chapter explains how mammals were created and who where the first mammals to roam the earth. After a long time of mammals leading the earth, some mammals evolved into what humans consider to be the big, the bad, and the ugly. These animals like the simosthenurus used to be wombats and now have turned into giant oversized bears. Not only the mammals evolved, but so did the birds. Mostly herbivores, these gigantic ostriches called moas didn’t harm anything and did’t act violent unless provoked. Later after this growth spurt of the animals and dinosaurs, weird and never seen animals have appeared such as, hairy turtles, horned giraffes, and gophers with spike heads. Although these animals were not terrifying, they were extremely dangerous. Even 15,000 years ago these animals still lived on earth. Unfortunately these animals were forced to extinction because of disease and hunters. The hunters indeed were the most ferocious prehistoric predators. Saber-toothed lions would roam the lands and would fight against bears and tigers which could crack bones with there teeth. Surprisingly, there were few predators and dangerous animals near Australia, only pouched marsupial wolfs. These were the obvious ancestors of kangaroos. Finally, about 1 million years ago, temperatures plummeted, and earth had survive a series of harsh ice ages. During this period of time, woolly mammoths and Lion Kings appeared and roamed the earth until the temperatures went back to normal killing them or icing the remains of all the ice age monsters. In conclusion Robert and Mathew’s outstanding paperback was informative and helpful.
After reading this book, I still had a couple of questions that really keep me thinking: When did dinosaurs appear on earth?, Where there any dinosaurs with mammal like features.When did prehistoric mammals go extinct?, What other reasons made them go extinct?, What did the marsupial wolfs in Australia use their pouches for?, When was the first sabertooth lion live and start the breed?, Where there any dinosaurs with mammal like features?, When did prehistoric mammals go extinct?, What other reasons made them go extinct?, What did the marsupial wolfs in Australia use their pouches for?, When was the first sabertooth lion live and start the breed? Second I wrote an acrostic poem about my story and the beasts in it: Materialistic Arts
Entertaining Facts
Ghostlike Creatures
Abnormal turtles
Belated Mammal Takeover
Ecstatic Lions
Awesome Authors
Shaggy Horns
Terrible Bears
Finally, the woolly mammoth pop art was my favorite illustration for several reasons. First, after reading the history of the woolly mammoth, I found it nicer and more realistic. Second, the mammoth reminded me of Ice Age the movie. Finally this was my favorite illustration because it was the most detailed one and possessed me while looking at it. In conclusionThis illustration was my favorite throughout the whole book.
Mega Beasts is a book that I would recommend to the sixth grade audience for many clear reasons. First of all, the book is contains huge pop art illustrations that capture your attention and make you want to read the captions and explanations. The information inside the captions are really easy to understand and even the most reluctant reader would like to give it a try. While reading the book, you will want to answer questions you never thought you would want an answer for. The non fiction miracle goes through everything and leaves no loose endings which makes it good for sixth graders. This book wouldn’t be a good choice for readers which are more literature preferring and don’t enjoy facts. This book is a book that everyone would be satisfied as a good read but not enjoy it so much. For instance, sometimes throughout the captions you would find a boring fact even though it is necessary. This might not convene people who like to keep the story interesting. Hence, this book has its ups and downs but still is an excellent read for the sixth grade audience.
December 25, 2019
Totally amazing. Every page is a work of genius in paper engineering. As well as the main large pop-up dinosaur and information, each page has little booklets with more details and small pop-up images.
February 5, 2023
This is a vocabulary treasure trove. And the pop-ups are phenomenal. You have the main one, then there are more in the corners. Layers of them! It is a spectacular book!
September 29, 2024
Collect all of these! The art is so beautiful. Not even really sure they’re for kids
October 27, 2013
Can I say that every age kid and adult alike will LOVE this book! My husband took it out of my hand as soon as I opened it up and then my youngest daughter sneaked it away from him. This book is full of facts and information about dinosaurs that is presented very well, in small burst. But the really amazing part of this book is the pop-ups. They are intricate and amazingly crafted. There are even pop-ups under other pop-ups so the fun just keeps on coming. The colors are catching and the Meat-Eaters pop-ups are unbelievably cool. The best is the Raptors, the archaeopteryx flys off the page!
September 28, 2010
This was a present for my 6 year old who is now 7 and sitting beside me raving on and on about how much he still loves this book. It's one of the best pop-ups ever seen and offers something for younger kids (the awesome popup creatures) and older kids(many different levels of text and secret messages, windows, doors and various styles of accordian type pages to open). It is a great gift and will delight a kid for more than a couple of years. I wouldn't give it to one of those kids that are destructive and can't resist ripping paper.
July 8, 2020
I could never give a one-star review to a pop-up book. The engineering that goes into one will always be mind-boggling and worthy of praise. However, Robert Sabuda's Encyclopedia Prehistorica Mega-Beasts Pop-Up doesn't really merit a greater rating from me, in large part because the images that have been sliced and diced into 3-D engineered illustrations have difficulty resembling prehistoric creatures. Perhaps the subject matter doesn't lend itself to the format without taking on the feel of mechanized, plated Transformers, and consequently makes for a disappointing pop-up book.
May 25, 2008
Everyone knows my love of pop-up books, right? Well, Robert Sabuda is like the King of Pop Up. I do not know how he is able to create these things, let alone in a manner that makes them mass-producable. (That is so not a word, but I used it anyway.)
This one is not my favorite of his, mostly because I'm not a 6 year old boy with a dinosaur obsession. But it is amazing nonetheless. Go Westerville Library for being brave enough to let it circulate. It has yet to be destroyed.
This one is not my favorite of his, mostly because I'm not a 6 year old boy with a dinosaur obsession. But it is amazing nonetheless. Go Westerville Library for being brave enough to let it circulate. It has yet to be destroyed.
July 31, 2007
This book and the Dinosaur book in the "Encyclopedia Prehistorica" series are absolutely stunning. By far the best pop up books I have ever seen. More like amazing works of art then pop up books. Kids are transfixed by these books!
November 15, 2010
I put this on my shelf because I did not want to forget about this book or the title. This book is an excellent book for the 6-9 year range kids that are interested in science. I read this to Ty this weekend, and it was the best pop-up book I have ever read.
December 15, 2012
amazing work of art of a book. totally stunning and transfixing. i dont own this or any other book in the series, and neither do i care that its rated ages 5 and up - if anyone out there wants to gift me this or the dinosaurs or the sharks one, that would be smashing.
December 3, 2020
As a dinosaur lover I thought that this book was so much fun! I've written before that I am a sucker for a good pop-up book and this one really did scratch the itch for me. This would be a great way to get younger students excited and interested in history and science!
February 7, 2008
Great pop-up, but I didn't love the subject matter as much as his other books.
May 9, 2009
Fabulous pop-ups! Brilliant (although probably not accurate) colors, and hundreds of popping parts are the main attraction, although the explaining text does seem to be accurate and informative.
February 10, 2010
Amazing intricate pop-up book for kids!
March 15, 2011
The pop-ups are great, but there is a lot of scientific information that is advanced for a kindergartner. Probably more appropriately for 3rd or 4th grade.
August 11, 2015
Encyclopedia Prehistorica Mega-Beasts Pop-Up
by Robert James Sabuda
cool fold outs and pop ups
by Robert James Sabuda
cool fold outs and pop ups
April 27, 2015
^-^ This just makes me so freakin happy. I love that a few of these amazing creatures lived on till around 1600s and maybe even later O.O
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews