Dinosaur Alphabet [Hardcover]

Harry S. Robins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 2006 | Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

Renowned muralist and illustrator Harry Robins captures the world of dinosaurs with vivid, four-color artwork and charming verses structured around the 26 letters of the alphabet. Each of the quatrains (one for each letter of the alphabet) accompanies a detailed illustration portraying a different dinosaur, and starts with an ornamental capital letter incorporating another depiction of the creature. Both informative and playful, the book takes readers young and old from A for Allosaurus to Z for Zuniceratops. Robins works from the latest scientific information about the dinosaurs shown, and an engaging "Notes" section provides background on each of the verses.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Dinosaur Alphabet by Harry S. Robins is one fun-filled look at the alphabet and those prehistoric creatures kids of all ages find fascinating. Combined with wonderfully detailed and colorful illustrations by the author, this book offers much for the imagination. Parents and children alike will enjoy going through this one several times over, finding more and more to discover and discuss... We found the originality of this book to be a nice departure from the usual alphabet books. The imagery is stunning and gives young children something to look at and enjoy by themselves, and the rhyming text makes reading aloud pleasant.”
—Laughing Owl Reviews

About the Author

Harry S. Robins is the author and illustrator of The Meaning of Lost and Mismatched Socks, and his numerous cartoons and drawings have been published worldwide. He has also been by turns a circus performer, singer, screenwriter, filmmaker and film actor, television announcer and on-air personality, radio broadcaster, and vocal presence in movies and computer games. Robins is perhaps best known as the voice of harried scientist Dr. Isaac Kleiner in the computer game Half-Life, which was awarded the title Game of the Year in 1999. He lives in San Francisco, California, and his obsession with dinosaurs has never been explained.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 80 pages
• Publisher: Frog Children's Books (October 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583941673
• ISBN-13: 978-1583941676
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 0.5 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,133,917 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Dinosaur Alphabet, July 29, 2007

By 

L. Jim Khennedy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dinosaur Alphabet (Hardcover)

(Review by L. Jim Khennedy) This is a marvelous and - at second glance, unusual, even problematic - book for dinosaur fans. The author, Harry S. ("Dr. Howl") Robins, has put together a beautiful package of dino love with three elements: brief odes in verse to 26 of his favorite giant reptiles, incredible illustrations of each and a section of scientific notes on his subjects. Robins' affection for the dearly departed monsters is palpable and affecting throughout; the book could almost be called "The Joy of Dinosaurs" and - with qualifications - is a must for any comprehensive saurapod library.

Being deeply poetry-impaired (I consider Dr. Seuss to be the greatest American poet), I am not qualified to comment on Robins' verse and probably shouldn't mention, even as an aside, that it did little for me. The artwork, however, is the stuff of dreams, and are the book's real raison d'etre. Robins' style is intricate and fantastical, noticably cartoonish and decidedly trippy. Every creature (one for each letter of the alphabet) receives a detailed black and white portrait to grace its illuminated letter ("M" for "Monoclonius") and a full-page illustration with lovingly rendered prehistoric settings in full, groovy, colour.

Among Harry Robins' many claims to fame is a significant body of work as an underground cartoonist and illustrator. His usual creations involve black-and-white/pen-and-ink panels crammed to overflowing with intricate background details - mad scientist paraphernalia, little imps, sylphs, succubi and monsters, unlikely distant landscapes and, yes, dinosaurs.
It defies comparison to the work of any other artist. Try to imagine, perhaps, Hieronymus Bosch and M.C. Escher collaborating on an E.C. horror comic. In his own special, labor-intensive genre of monochromatic fantastical art, Robins is without peer.

The colour illustrations in The Dinosaur Alphabet represent a significant departure for him. They are both the genius and the problematic part of the book. Perhaps in recognition of his greater experience with black & white, Robins chose to do a somewhat simplified version of his usual intricate pen-work, including cross-hatched shading, and then paint over the monochrome drawings with vivid water colours. The result is imagery that, while striking, can give one a vaguely uncomfortable feeling of "wrongness."

Black & white line drawings are by nature an abstraction: even when realistically reproducing the contours of the real world, they are inherently different from the living world of colour, where shadows and shading appear as gradations of hue, and different objects and parts of objects are rarely demarcated by sharp black lines. The combination of the stricter realism of colour painting with the abstraction of drawing tended to put this one viewer, at least, off-balance. At the same tyme, it must be said that the almost psychedelic colours, fantastical (but scientifically irreproachable!) creatures and alien backgrounds can definitely be grooved out to when one is in the right frame of mind.

Finally, the question of exactly who this book is intended for. It has the look of a children's book, and the kids will definitely love the delirious art, but much of the vocabulary of the verse ("Ceratosaurus, large of tooth ... with serrate back;" "Fabrosaurus ... Heard no more the hot sirocco") will be beyond that of most grade schoolers, while the "Notes" section is unquestionably meant for well-educated, probably adult, readers, in particular those with a scientific turn of mind.

My guess is that the largest audience demographic that will find this book indispensable consists of monster-loving stoners, who will surely trip out ecstatically, grooving on the vivid, elaborate artwork, and perhaps find especial insight into the poetry. Adult dino fanciers of all stripes will surely appreciate it, even more so, and any hippy paleontologists are hereby advised that they must immediately rush out to buy this one, or bitterly regret it.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Harry Robins' DINOSAUR ALPHABET: Gorgeous Stuff, November 29, 2006

By 

John P. Shirley (Pinole CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dinosaur Alphabet (Hardcover)

Beautiful--exceptional!--drawings, four color art, clever, amusing poems--great coffee table book, great for dinosaur fans, children, grandchildren...

4.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for 4 year olds, and those who used to be 4 year olds, July 20, 2007

By 

Robert Novak (Silicon Valley, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dinosaur Alphabet (Hardcover)

I saw this book reviewed in a very unlikely place: Heavy Metal -- yes, the adult fantasy comic. Not the first place you'd look for a kids' book. The reviewer noted this oddness. But it's a beautifully illustrated book with a wide range of dinosaurs running the alphabet from A to Z.

I gave a copy to each of the two 4-year-olds I know, and both really liked it. Their mothers liked it too. My local bookstores didn't have it in stock, and Amazon got it to me quickly.