Review: This is a fun interactive book that any "dino detective" will love!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 22, 2012
Many young children are wild about dinosaurs and can pronounce names such as Ankylosaurus quite readily.  Newly independent readers and confident readers will enjoy browsing this book testing their skills and knowledge.  Each quiz is preface by a clue and then give three dinosaur names along with a pronunciation guide for each one.  For example ampelosaurus is followed by "say ... am-pel-oh-sore-us" in parenthesis. If the correct choice is made it will be followed by some "Fast Facts" and then a picture of the dinosaur (it can be enlarged).  If successful the child will see phrases such as "Nice going! Or "You are so clever!"  If incorrect they will see something along the line "Not me!  Try again with this hint."If the reader gives an incorrect answer, a prompt will be given so they can guess again.  For example one gives the hint, "Many dinosaur books show me fighting with a Tyrannosaurus Rex."  This feature not only gently reminds children they have not made a proper selection, but also gives additional information about the dinosaur.  Even if you have a dino genius, you might suggest a bit of exploration to find additional facts by hitting an incorrect answer.DINO FAST FACTS~ The name of the dinosaur with the pronunciation~  Its nickname~  When it lived (Creataceous period,~  Length (both in meters and feet)~  Height  (both in meters and feet)~  Weight (both in kilograms and pounds)~  Food~  HomeAfter the "Dino Fast Facts" is a short "Did You Know" section with an interesting fact about the dinosaur.  An image of the specific dinosaur follows the text.  A prompt then urges the child to head to the next question.  One of the nice things I noticed was that each word in the text is defined at the bottom.  For example, when the cursor is just before the word "Triceratops" the definition appears in a sidebar-like box at the bottom of the page.One suggestion is to assign points to each of the twenty-five dinosaur names.  Three points for a "first time" guess down to one for the third and final.  A perfect score would be 75 points.  This is a fun interactive book that any "dino detective" will love.  Of course selection would depend on how advanced a youngster is.  This one could be read to a nonreader because some of them definitely know their facts.  A confident reader who can use a Kindle and loves dinosaurs would most likely enjoy the challenge these quizzes present.  It's not a lengthy book, but is packed with lots of fun!