Dinosaurus: A Prehistoric Dictionary

by Savannah Storm, Rhys Charles

This illustrated guide to the prehistoric world features more than 100 phrases revealing the science and natural history of the Mesozoic era!

Learn more about your favorite dinosaurs and discover new ones, such as Yutyrannus, the largest animal with confirmed feathers currently known to science.

Meet other incredible prehistoric beasts, including the Xiphactinus, a fish with vicious teeth that suggest they were predatory from the moment they hatched.

Explore prehistoric events and time to understand the Earth's geological timescale. Investigate the prehistoric planet and what it looks like today. Brush up on scientific terms such as homology, or the features common to species with a shared ancestor.

Each word entry includes a definition, further information and context, and an illustration. Fossil entries also include the pronunciation, discovery date, and range of where the fossils have been found.

With detailed entries and vibrant anatomical illustrations, Dinosaurus is the perfect reference book for the whole family!

Genres: Nonfiction

192 pages, Hardcover

Published October 7, 2025

About the author

Small town girl from Semmes, Alabama.
Hobbies are reading, writing, photography, listening to music and hanging out with my family. I have 3 boys whom I love with my entire being and am married to a wonderful man. Raised on collards, cornbread, sweet tea and the Lord, just trying to make each day better than the last.

Reviews

[John Astell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dinosaurs by Rhys Charles is a limited book. While what is in it is good, the book could have been made much more useful without even increasing the page count. Some examples from Chapter 1, which has introductory comments and then a page or two on 60 dinosaur genera:

1. The Classification section defines the three families of dinosaurs: theropods, sauropodomorphs, and ornithischians. For such seemingly important info, I expected each of the 60 entries would specify the dinosaur's family, such as in the subheading along with "First discovered" and "Range". It does not. The text of most entries does not mention family at all; just a few do.

2. Each dinosaur entry has a picture showing the dinosaur's skeleton and body outline. All these pictures are scale to be about the same size, with no indication of scale despite the dinosaurs ranging from small to immense. Other works on dinosaurs indicate scale in some way with the pictures, such as including an outline of a typical human. The body of the text does mention the size of the dinosaur, but this is far inferior to indicating scale in the picture.

3. Each dinosaur picture shows a complete skeleton. This give the impression that the complete skeleton is known, but in many cases some or much of it is a guess based on what there actually is, and/or a reconstruction based on related lines of dinosaurs. For an extreme example, Qantassaurus is shown with a complete skeleton but so far only a few fossil jaw fragments have been found. The reconstructed skeleton is based on the assumption that is similar to skeletons of other ornithopod dinosaurs.

It would have been much better to shade the parts that are guesses or reconstructions. (Once in a while the body text mentions a skeleton is incomplete, like for Megalosaurus, but this is an inferior way to indicate such info.)

4. If the body text of an entry is short, the extra space in the page is filled up with a repeat of part of the skeleton picture, as the same scale as the main picture. This adds no informational value to the entry.

5. The text is overall good by occasionally confusing. One example is the Tyrannosaurus entry. It it listed as first discovered in 1874, but the text later states that T. rex was "First discovered in 1900." There is no explanation for this discrepancy. (In actuality, a Tyrannosaurus tooth was discovered in 1874 but the first partial skeleton was found in 1900.)

6. The text overuses the words "ideal" and "perfect" in describing features of dinosaurs. For example, the Spinosaurus entry states it has features that "are all ideal adaptations to a life of fishing." Excellent adaptions, certainly. Ideal or perfect? This is less clear.

Overall, there are many better books on dinosaurs. I think this book's best use would be as a starter book for older children.

[David Carriere · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dinosaurus: A Prehistoric Dictionary is an engaging and beautifully presented reference book that makes learning about dinosaurs both fun and memorable. Rhys Charles delivers clear, accessible explanations that invite curiosity, while Savannah Storm’s illustrations add personality and visual excitement to every page.
What stands out most is the book’s balance of education and creativity. Rather than overwhelming young readers with dense facts, the dictionary style encourages exploration, discovery, and repeat reading. The illustrations elevate the experience, helping children connect names and concepts with vivid imagery that sparks imagination.
This is a standout resource for dinosaur loving kids, parents, and educators alike. It succeeds as both an informative reference and a book children will return to again and again.

[CrumbleMcLumble · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven’t read a book about dinosaurs since I was a kid, and this was a great entry-level re-introduction to the field. I don’t think there’s much here for people who closely follow paleontology developments, but it’s a well illustrated and clearly written book covering some of the high notes and greatest hits of the dinosaur world. I would have liked some illustration of scale to go with every one of the skeletons in the book to get a better idea of how big some of these dinosaurs were, but if I had a kid or someone just interested in learning a little bit about dinosaurs in mind, this would be a great gift.

[Loubicath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely informative dictionary giving explanations in short paragraphs on all aspects of prehistoric life including explanations of scientific terms.

[Claire Q · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this - loved the accessible information, loved the illustrations, love the design. Can't wait to share it with my son when he gets a little older.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book