Dinosaurs Big and Small

How big was Argentinosaurus? Think multiple school buses. How small was Compsognathus? About the size of a house cat. Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld's Let's-Read-and-Find-Out entry teaches size and scale by anchoring enormous prehistoric animals to things children already know — and it works beautifully for the youngest readers. Lucia Washburn's chalk illustrations render even carnivores in warm, approachable tones that won't unsettle a preschooler. The back-matter lineup of all dinosaurs with scientific names, pronunciations, lengths, and weights gives parents and caregivers something useful for the inevitable follow-up questions. The Oppenheim Award is well deserved. The one honest note: the 2002 publication means some paleontological details have been updated by newer discoveries. A lovely first dinosaur science book all the same.