Tyrannosaurus and Other Giant Meat-Eaters

By Virginia Schomp

There are many reasons why the prehistoric world captures the imagination of children, but dinosaurs certainly play a major role. It only makes sense, therefore, to open the Prehistoric World series with an investigation of that world's best-known inhabitants: dinosaurs. Painting a vivid picture of life as we think it then existed, each book features a different type of dinosaur, focusing on a well-known member of a particular group but also discussing its relatives and other similar creatures. Coverage includes the animal's physical characteristics, the world in which it lived, how it lived, and the secrets of its daily survival.

• Format: Library Binding
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0761410201
• ISBN13: 9780761410201
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: Cavendish Square Publishing
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 10.5" x 9.8"
• Age Range: 8 to 10 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 5

Customer Reviews

What a great book!

My son originally checked this title out of our local library. He walked around with the book for a week until I finally ordered it for him here! He loves all of these book in the series. His interest in dinosaurs is fairly recent, but all of Virginia Schomp's book are cool to him. I love the graphics and the overall presentation of the book myself. The library binding is great and very durable.

A solid introduction to the biggest baddest dinosaurs

This juvenile science book provides an introduction to the physical characteristics and habits of Tyrannosaurus Rex and other meat-eating dinosaurs. Virginia Schomp introduces young readers to nine different giant predators, each with its own illustration and an information box that tells us when and where these dinosaurs lived, as well as distinguishing characteristics. There is are also photographs of "Sue," the largest and more complete T. Rex skeleton ever found that is now on exhibit at the Field Museum in Chicago, and a Tyrannosaurus tooth being uncovered by paleontologists. The emphasize is on the scientific perspective, telling young readers about the world in which they lived and how they hunted their prey, although scientists still have some unanswered questions about the daily lives of the Tyrannosaurus. Other titles in the series look at armored plant-eaters, horned plant-eaters, and giant long-necked plant-eaters, as well as the small, speedy meat-eaters. In the back of each volume there is a Dinosaur Family tree that makes it clear how Saurischians ("lizard-hipped" dinosaurs) are different from Ornithischians ("bird-hipped" dinosaurs), and how to tell the suborder Theropods and different from Saurophodomorphs. Schomp goes all the way down to the genus-species level, since the Tyrannosaurus is the only dinosaur commonly called by both its genus and species name. There is also a Glossary, Books and On-Line Sources for future reference, and a brief Index. The end result of reading this series could well be that young students start to think more seriously about the science of paleontology as well as about these imposing dinosaurs.