Dinosaurs are Different

"Dinosaurs are Different"

By Aliki

Appropriate for ages 4-8

Historical Fiction Picture Book

Have you ever wondered how we know so much about the dinosaurs that roamed the earth 65 million years ago? Maybe you have never thought about how different each dinosaur was. In the book "Dinosaurs are Different" We get to look up close at how different the dinosaurs bones are, how many sharp or dull teeth each had and what make them different species.

You can learn a lot about dinosaurs by looking at all of their bones. In the book "Dinosaurs are Different” students take us through a Dinosaur museum to look at all of the different dinosaurs. We see dinosaurs with different hip bones and some with alike hip bones. Other dinosaurs have sharp pointy teeth, others have many dull teeth. Even some dinosaurs have horns all over them for armor or just on their head. Dinosaurs can be divided into many categories. Scientist categorizes them then into species. In this book we learn of many different species, characteristics of the different dinosaurs and learn which species are related to one another.

In my opinion, this book would be great to use in the younger education classes to start a topic or unit plan on the different types of dinosaurs. There are great descriptions and pictures of dinosaurs in the book. Also the historical information is explained in a "family tree" for some of the dinosaurs. This book could also be read before the students go on a field trip to a museum so students can see all the things they will learn on the field trip. The setting is important in this book because we can never go back 65 million years ago to look at the dinosaurs and place them into categories; it shows students that we have to categorize the species by bones, teeth, and what they ate.

Young readers may have trouble pronouncing the types of dinosaurs, but the teachers could read the book out loud and ask the students to repeat the name of the dinosaurs so they can practice reading larger words. The students walking through the museum are excited and are very intrigued with seeing dinosaur’s bones, as I assume every child would be. I loved how it was set in the museum because it shows how museums are fun and can be educational. The illustrations made the book come alive, even though the bones haven’t been alive for 65 million years. Students will love the read this and see all of the interesting and intriguing pictures.

MA Curriculum ELA frameworks

K.L.5.4: By the end of grade 2, students will identify appropriate end marks (periods, question

marks)

K.R.8.2: Students will retell a main event from a story heard or read

K.R.16.1: By the end of grade 2, students will identify familiar forms of traditional literature

(Mother Goose rhymes, fairy tales, lullabies) read aloud.