A Year in the World of Dinosaurs

Elizabeth Havercroft and Millbrook Press took an inventive approach in this 2009 nonfiction picture book: follow an entire Jurassic year across just eight large-scale illustrations, with a clock or calendar marking time's passage in each scene. Hatchlings emerge in spring; a forest fire ruptures one dramatic spread later in the year. The search-and-find feature built into each illustration rewards children who want to look longer, not just listen. For dinosaur enthusiasts, the accuracy and the North American Jurassic setting matter. The honest trade-off is that eight scenes and sparse text make this a brief encounter with the material — dedicated dinosaur readers will want more. The forest-fire spread is mildly intense but handled without gore, well within age-appropriate range. A distinctive and clever entry in the genre.