A centipede as long as a couch? Trees so tall they touch the clouds? Amphibians changing into reptiles? These are just a few of the amazing life forms detailed in When Bugs Were Big....This lively new paperback tickles the reader’s funny bone while imparting tons of information about the animals, plants, and bugs that lived before the dinosaurs. Children will read "news reports" including a weather forecast from 320 million years ago and an emergency broadcast about the swift extinction that would end the Permian period. As kids peruse Bonner’s innovative combination of narrative text, engaging illustrations, hilarious cartoons, maps, charts, and time lines, they will gather lots of valuable scientific information about the amazing creatures that ruled the Earth before the dinosaurs.
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Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Grade 3-6--Bonner takes a lighthearted approach to a fascinating topic. The Carboniferous and Permian periods spanned 100 million years or so just before the better-known Mesozoic Era. The author describes many of the unusual plant and animal species from those times in a lively, conversational style. Cartoon illustrations decorate every page. Some of them are strictly informational, but most contain elements of humor as well. The facts and the fun work well together, and it's always clear which is which. In one three-panel strip, for example, two scientists offer legitimate theories regarding possible uses of a shark's (Akmonistion) spiny "turret," while a chef wishes that he could have used that unusual appendage as a cheese grater. Weather reports by well-dressed reptile ancestors, want ads for bug-eating amniotes, and pictures with word balloons are among the other comic features. The more straightforward drawings of the unusual creatures are clear and eye-catching, though not all include estimated size. A useful two-page illustrated time line gives a nice overview. Most of the species details are basic, with more emphasis on how life in general evolved during this time period. Readers also see how climate, geology, and other animals effected development. Most dinosaur books include just a page or two of pre-Triassic information, so this title offers valuable subject coverage in an appealing package.--Steven Engelfried, Beaverton City Library, OR
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Gr. 2-5. The Carboniferous and Permian eras that ended the Paleozoic period (250 million years ago) are presented with verve and humor that don't shortchange the young natural historian's quest for good explanations of the earth's distant past. In spite of the book's subtitle, there's plenty of text. Cartoons are lightly sprinkled throughout an otherwise more traditionally illustrated narrative, but the formats are blended well to provide appropriately factual and hyperbolic information. Descriptions of evolving animal life, climate changes, continental drift, and the formation of elements such as carbon as a natural part of the vegetative life cycle unfold coherently. The use of age-appropriate appendixes (a chart designed to help children keep the vertebrates straight) and familiar reference points (a "seven-foot basketball player" standing next to a very, very tall synchysidendron tree) make this an exemplary curriculum support resource, but kids who dig dinosaurs will read the book purely for pleasure. Let's hope this author-illustrator will decide to present more history for young readers. Francisca Goldsmith
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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More About the Author
I grew up on the Spanish island of Mallorca, in an American household. As a child I loved to draw, and I loved nature. I raised baby sparrows that had fallen out of their nest, kept mosquito larvae in a jar in order to watch them hatch, and drew things I saw under the microscope. An English friend and I set up a Natural History museum in the wood shed where we displayed bones, fossils and shells we'd found (to say nothing of the skull of my pet hamster, which in the name of science I had dug up a year or two after it died).
When I was a senior in high school, my father wrote a book about the plants of Mallorca, and I did pen-and-ink drawings to go with it. This was my first illustration job.
In college I majored in art, but continued to be interested in biology. I went on to illustrate all sorts of things: first grade readers, folk tales, classroom materials for the science show Nova, a children's science dictionary (the Scholastic Science Dictionary, 2000), books about local mammals and birds, and more. I became especially interested in paleontology when a paleontologist friend of mine asked me to create a reconstruction of a prehistoric goat. Since then I have done other reconstructions, and I like the challenge of bringing the past to life. I also love telling a story in pictures. I got to do both in When Bugs Were Big and When Fish Got Feet, my two books about life before the dinosaurs for National Geographic Children's Books. I'm currently working on a third book for them, so stay tuned!
When I was a senior in high school, my father wrote a book about the plants of Mallorca, and I did pen-and-ink drawings to go with it. This was my first illustration job.
In college I majored in art, but continued to be interested in biology. I went on to illustrate all sorts of things: first grade readers, folk tales, classroom materials for the science show Nova, a children's science dictionary (the Scholastic Science Dictionary, 2000), books about local mammals and birds, and more. I became especially interested in paleontology when a paleontologist friend of mine asked me to create a reconstruction of a prehistoric goat. Since then I have done other reconstructions, and I like the challenge of bringing the past to life. I also love telling a story in pictures. I got to do both in When Bugs Were Big and When Fish Got Feet, my two books about life before the dinosaurs for National Geographic Children's Books. I'm currently working on a third book for them, so stay tuned!
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Yes, There Was Life BEFORE The Dinosaurs,
By
This review is from: When Bugs Were Big, Plants Were Strange, and Tetrapods Stalked the Earth: A Cartoon Prehistory of Life before Dinosaurs (Hardcover)
The author does a great job explaining life before the dinosaurs. It can be difficult for kids to "get" the fact that there were big reptiles (and amphibians) before the Age of Dinosaurs, and some authors find it easier to just lump those beasts together with dinosaurs.But not here. Ms. Bonner does a nice job detailing differences in reptiles and amphibians, and also does one of the best jobs I've seen in a children's book of explaining vegetation -- why it was different then, how it evolved, and how it turned into coal. This book is a definite keeper for the 6 and up set -- my daughter, turning four soon, is a big dinosaur buff, and likes the cartoon pictures more than the science behind it. But when she's ready for a nice overview of the Permian period, I'll pull out "When Bugs Were Big."
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Introduction to the Late Paleozoic,
By Martin Wagner (Belmont, MA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: When Bugs Were Big, Plants Were Strange, and Tetrapods Stalked the Earth: A Cartoon Prehistory of Life before Dinosaurs (Hardcover)
This book was a present to my two kids, ages 6 and 8, but I've enjoyed it as much as they did. My kids love dinosaurs, and I've read dinosaur book after dinosaur book. This is the first book that showed me what was around before the dinosaurs. The author (and illustrator) do a great job of being entertaining and informative. The drawing and humor are fantastic, and there are lots of little details that show up in the second, third and fourth reading (always an advantage in favorite childrens books). I highly recommend "When Bugs Were Big" for both parents and children who want to learn more about what the world was like before.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best science book ever!,
By glassbreaker (South Florida) - See all my reviews
This review is from: When Bugs Were Big, Plants Were Strange, and Tetrapods Stalked the Earth: A Cartoon Prehistory of Life before Dinosaurs (Hardcover)
This is the coolest science picture book I have found in a long time! Great sketches, quirky storyline and it's chuck full of facts that kids will grasp onto and learn from. I found myself learning stuff I never knew. Great book! RECOMMENDED
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