A Nest of Dinosaurs: The Story of Oviraptor [Hardcover]

Mark A. Norell (Author), Lowell Dingus (Author), Mick Ellison (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

Discusses how the authors became paleontologists and describes their expeditions to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia and the important fossils they found there.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Grade 5-9-Norell and Dingus record a fascinating story spanning 70 years in Gobi paleontological exploration. Their crisp, readable (and slightly demanding) text charts early expeditions to the Flaming Cliffs under the direction of that Indiana Jones of paleontology, Roy Chapman Andrews, and their own 1993 expedition to Ukhaa Tolgod, where the find of a partial fossil of an Oviraptor still crouching over its nest of eggs in a protective parenting posture after 70 million years reversed the previously held theory that had given this creature its cognomen. The book goes on to discuss the impact of this discovery on current concepts of dinosaur/bird relationships. Sidebars (some quite lengthy) offer a geological/evolutionary time line, a discussion of dating fossils and how they are discovered and retrieved in the field, and information about how to become a paleontologist. A map of Mongolia and color and black-and-white photos and drawings are carefully placed to correspond with the text. Offer this veritable feast for the mind to readers who have enjoyed J. Lynett Gillette's The Search for Seismosaurus (Dial, 1994), John Horner's Digging Up Tyrannosaurus Rex (Crown, 1992), Dingus and Norell's Searching for Velociraptor (HarperCollins, 1996), and Margery Facklam's Tracking Dinosaurs in the Gobi (21st Century, 1997).
Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday Books for Young Readers (October 12, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385325584
• ISBN-13: 978-0385325585
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,897,538 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "must read" for all young dinosaur enthusiasts!, February 7, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Nest of Dinosaurs: The Story of Oviraptor (Hardcover)

This story of oviaptor and its false reputation as an egg-stealing killer requires good reading skills of kids in grades 4 and older, but provides a fascinating survey of the detective work which has gone into dinosaur discoveries. Color photos abound in this survey of dinosaur findings and the tools and methods of researchers.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting look at how paleontologists study fossils, February 7, 2001

By 

Kelley Drisko (Augusta, Maine United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Nest of Dinosaurs: The Story of Oviraptor (Hardcover)

This title is more about the process of looking for dinosaur fossils and interpreting what a specific find means than it is about the dinosaur species oviraptor. The narration follows a team of scientists as they choose and then excavate a site in Mongolia. The fossils that they find and the way that these remains are interpreted forever change the reptuation of oviraptor from an egg-stealing menace to a caring parent. The vocabulary is challenging but the glossary does help.