Author: Aiden Potts

ISBN: 978-0385751193

Uneversaurus is a picture book that walks kids through how paleontologists find dinosaur bones, how they put them all together, and how they make deductions about how the dinosaur lived and what it looked like by comparing them to what we know about the animals that are alive today.

Uneversaurus is illustrated wonderfully with a fun mix of splashy full color pages and small comic book like asides that manage to convey a lot of information in a fun way. The book does a great job of breaking down some pretty sophisticated science into bite sized kid friendly bits. For example, on a page talking about how scientists piece together the dinosaur bones they find, information is placed into actual puzzle piece shapes taking the extraordinary job of piecing together dinosaurs and likening it to puzzle building which all kids can understand.

The book is great not just for explaining the science of dinosaur digging to kids but also for encouraging them to use their imaginations and make their own deductions. After explaining why different animals are colored different ways, to blend into their surroundings or to scare away predators you open up to a full page of colorful pteradons, flying through the sky in all colors of the rainbow. Unlike many kids books Uneversaurus shows kids that it's okay to not know something for sure.

The book is marketed as being for kids aged 4-8, and is a slim colorful volume like most picture books geared for pre-schoolers, but I think while 4, 5, or even 6 year olds may enjoy looking at the colorful dinosaur pictures the science is still a little too far above their heads. As well as the science is broken down it is still better suited for the older side of that age spectrum.

The above review was contributed by: Renee Mallett:  Published journalist, reviewer, and creative writer. Freelance editor:  Author of several non-fiction books. To read more of Renee's reviews CLICK HERE