BOOK REVIEW: The Prehistoric Times by Stella Gurney, illustrated by Neave Parker & Matthew Hodson

Stephanie O'Connell | 7 July 2017 | Reply

BOOK REVIEW: The Prehistoric Times by Stella Gurney, illustrated by Neave Parker & Matthew Hodson

Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
June 2017
Paperback, $10.99
Reviewed by Steph O’Connell

Activity Book

7/10

A newspaper-style activity book for the discerning dinosaur, packed with paleo puzzles, fearsome facts and giganto games. Meet real-life reptiles and read fascinating features, which include:
Seeking a self-defence class? Hear what a cetiosaur has to say about staying safe. Wondering what’s happening with the weather? See whether meteor showers are here to stay with our fail-safe forecast. Confused why #trees are trending? Learn why the hypsilophodons think branches are best. And much, much more…

The Prehistoric Times is an interesting and unique activity book, to be sure, and is bound to stand out from the plethora of others on the shelf with its bold orange highlights and newspaper-like layout.

Gurney, Parker, and Hodson have been sure to include the activities needed to call this an activity book (mazes, spot the difference, dot-to-dot, patterns, finish the picture, and so on), but there’s also quite a bit of information in these pages. Through photo-realistic images, dinosaur profiles, advertisements, interviews, and articles, readers in the target group are sure to discover something about dinosaurs they didn’t know before.

It’s unique and cute and somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but also informative, and stands out as an activity book that can be revisited even once all the puzzles are completed, dots are joined, images are finished, and so on.