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Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Mega Beasts
Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart
Non-Fiction Pop-up Book (Series)
Ages 5 and up
Candlewick Press, 2007, 978-0-7636-2230-5
  Many of us are familiar with the great giants who once walked the earth, the dinosaurs. We know of Tyrannosaurus Rex and its other meat eating cousins. We know of the long-necked vegetarian dinosaurs which roamed the earth with heavy plodding feet. Many of us know very little about some of the other great creatures which are now also extinct but which are fascinating to learn about.
  These include the “Sky Lizards,” huge pterosaurs which flew in the skies around the same time that many of the dinosaurs walked the earth. They came in many forms and sizes and filled all sorts of niches, just as birds do today.
  Once the large dinosaurs were gone, mammals could take center stage and some of them did so in a spectacular way by evolving to become truly enormous, and to our modern day eyes, very bizarre looking as well. One of the best ways to avoid being eaten is, after all, to get too big to be attacked. Indricotherium, a hornless rhinoceros was as heavy as three adult African elephants and it is unlikely that many creatures would consider taking it on.
  Then there were the animals that were “Nature’s Experiments.” These peculiar creatures, like the giant ground sloth, the giant armadillo like doedicurus, and the dodo bird, all became extinct because of climate change, diseases, or competitors. No doubt their large size made it harder for them to adapt when change entered their environment.
  Then, of course there were those famous saber-toothed cats and the giant ice-age woolly mammoths. Scientific evidence suggests that the saber-toothed cats were probably much like modern day lions, hunting and raising their cubs in packs. The mammoths were so big that saber-tooth cats and cave bears could not attack them. It was only when man came along that these beasts faced a predator that they had to worry about.
  This pop-up packed volume is full of information about the fascinating creatures which have delighted paleontologists, zoologists, natural museum goers, and children for decades. Every double page spread features a large central pop-up creation and then mini books on the sides of the pages contain further pop-ups to explore. The amount of information that Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart have managed to pack into this book is staggering and at the same time it is wonderfully presented in a way that makes it easy to follow, interesting, and entertaining. Pop-up book collectors will love this book and children of all ages will find it irresistible.
 

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