Mamenchisaurus (Dinosaur Library Series)
ea. vol: 21p. (Dinosaur Library Set III). CIP. Rourke. 1986. PLB $9.50. Grade 3-5 Each book contains an anthropomorphic tale about the featured dinosaur, followed by a two-page spread of facts on the creature and its surroundings. The texts plod along, roughly at the pace of a tired sauropod, weighted down by additional loads of contrived plotting and unpronounceable multisyllabic dinosaur names. The illustrations, on the other hand, are quite exciting, showing the crash of tidal waves, the hiss of volcanoes, the roar of tornadoes, and the howls of a lightning-struck Tarbosaurus that reverberate across the pages of prehistoric landscapes. Natural disasters aside, the most unfortunate thing about these books is the fusion and confusion of fact and fiction. Some ``facts'' mentioned in the stories are later verified; many others, however, are not, leaving readers to wonder, with both text and illustrations, if what they see is fact, scientific hypothesis, or artistic license. This confusion makes all but the last two pages of each book useless for research, and misleading for young readers. Stick to more reliable sources such as Lambert's Field Guide to Dinosaurs (Avon, 1983) and Sattler's The Illustrated Dinosaur Dictionary (Lothrop, 1983). Cathryn A. Camper, Minneapolis Public LibraryCopyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.