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How to Keep Dinosaurs
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14 new or used available from CDN$ 3.01
Average customer review:
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Product Description
It's funny, its irresistible, it's been a bestseller-and now it's available at an amazing new, low price.
"[A] delightful, tongue-in-cheek guide to the care and feeding of dinosaurs."--VOYA
Congratulations! You're bringing home your very first pet dinosaur. But there's so much to think about. Which dino gets on well with children? What kind of food does it eat (and how can you avoid becoming its meal)? What bed would make it feel completely comfy?
With tongue planted firmly in cheek, this "dino owner's manual" amusingly explains what every human needs to know before adopting a new saurus. Find out what should go into the basic toolkit (a stout shovel is helpful and so are reinforced gauntlets); which species thrive in household life and which will cause BIG problems; and what dinosaurs are just right for circuses and zoos, in security, and for giving eggs and meat. For every dinosaur covered, there's information on feeding, breeding, housing, and availability; maps of where they lived; details on weight and size; as well as other pertinent facts. The illustrations cleverly mix photography and art to bring humans and dinos together for the first time, and show the animals in domestic situations.
This creative and fun approach will stir everyone's imagination, and is surely the most amusing way to learn about dinosaurs ever.
Robert Mash earned advanced degrees in zoology from Oxford University. He lives in a thatched cottage in Dorset, England with his wife...and pet Hysilophodon.
The much-honored zoologist, author, and Oxford professor Richard Dawkins has received, among others, the Royal Society of Literature Award and the Los Angeles Times Literary Prize.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #226837 in Books
- Published on: 2005-02-28
- Original language: English
- Binding: Hardcover
- 96 pages
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up-A highly entertaining satire based on the notion that people keep dinosaurs as pets. The premise is maintained with tongue in cheek from the foreword to closing acknowledgments. In between are more than 50 care guides for various prehistoric reptiles. Starting with easier pets such as "compies" (Compsognathus) and recreational species ("Ornithomimus is a delight to ride-as long you can avoid trotting"), readers learn about the general qualities of each creature as well as feeding, housing, breeding, and availability. Subsequent chapters include flying pets, security dinosaurs, and those suitable for zoos and safari parks, as well as species kept for their eggs, meat, hides, and feathers. DK-style page layouts include inset photos of the dinosaurs, sometimes demonstrating one of their talents, such as the trainable Troodon making toast. Occasional full-page photos are especially funny; one example shows a well-dressed man walking his Nodosaurus with a large shovel prepared for clean up. The physical descriptions relate scientific fact, while the added funny bits often expand on actual characteristics. Mash consistently sticks to his deadpan voice so the frequent jokes stay fresh and unpredictable. Completely new illustrations, a reworked layout, and several new dinosaurs make this is a successful update of the first edition (Viking, 1983; o.p.). Adults might be the most appropriate audience here, given the sophisticated vocabulary and occasional ribald humor. However, older dinosaur aficionados with a taste for irreverence will love it, and it has great potential for booktalking.-Steven Engelfried, Beaverton City Library, OR
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About the Author
Robert Mash read zoology at Oxford and is now head of the biology department at Clayesmore School. He lives in a thatched cottage in the middle of Dorset with his wife, son and three coleophysii.
