Sarah Jane Lightfoot, When Dinosaurs roamed Australia, Affirm Press, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781922992017
Millions of years before you and me, living in wetlands and by the sea, lurking in lakes and green forest floors, Australia was home to dinosaurs. The reader is introduced to some of those dinosaurs whose fossils have been found in Australia.
Each dinosaur has a two-page spread. Included are the scientific name and a pronunciation guide. The latter should lead to some fun trying to get young tongues (and maybe some older tongues as well!) around them. In the illustrations, the plant eaters look more benign than the carnivorous ones. The possible environment has been suggested in the illustrations. Relative size isn’t obvious as one reads through the book, but at the end, all the dinosaurs are drawn to scale comparatively to the others. There’s also a map which shows where the fossils have been found, and more details about the animals themselves.
Lightfoot has used bright water colours and has chosen different colours for the dinosaurs though no one knows how they fit into the ancient environments. The endpapers full of well-recognisable Australian native flora, are a good introduction to the book. My one gripe is that the dinosaurs are more cartoon-like than realistic.
Dinosaur enthusiasts should be delighted with this new addition to this very popular subject area.
Reviewed by Maureen Mann
