Video Pick—Dinosaur Bones
From SLJ March 2007
Marilyn Hersh, Hillside Elementary School, Farmington Hills, MI -- School Library Journal, 2/12/2007
video or DVD. 10 min. (closed captioned). Weston Woods. 2006. video, ISBN 978-0-439-90560-2: $60; DVD, ISBN 978-0-439-90567-1: $59.95; cassette with hardcover book, ISBN 978-0-439-90574-9: $24.95; CD with hardcover book, ISBN 978-0-439-90580-0: $29.95.
PreS-Gr 2–"When you see dinosaur bones at a museum in town, remember a dinosaur once used them to get around!" Bob Barner's rhyming text (Chronicle Books, 2001) reminds youngsters of that and presents other interesting facts about dinosaurs. Barner's collage illustrations are animated, and sound effects and a background score enhance the telling. Each of several dinosaurs is depicted in a different bold color, and the creatures' skeletons are shown. As a particular part is described, those bones change color and flash to draw attention to them. Viewers learn about jaw, hip, foot, and skull bones and how scientists work with them to learn how dinosaurs lived. The factual information is presented appropriately for its intended audience of young but avid dinosaur lovers, using simple language and lots of color, sound, and movement to support the data. The CD has five tracks, allowing a choice between the same sound track as the DVD or just the dinosaur poem from the book, with or without page turn signals. Students will be enamored with this production and teachers will be impressed by the accuracy of the information presented in such an appealing format.
