Keiron Pim's top 10 dinosaurs

Imagine festival site takeover: From a drippy Tyrannosaurus to lost worlds packed with monsters, the author of the Bumper Book of Dinosaurs selects the best books which explore extinct monstersDinosaurs have great appeal as a subject in so many ways, but there are three aspects in particular that I found while working on my book The Bumper Book of Dinosaurs.For one, these huge, spectacular, often ferocious beasts that pounded around our planet many millions of years ago are just inherently exciting and it's a very enjoyable challenge to try to describe them.Secondly, this is the best time ever to write a book about dinosaurs – they're being discovered at a faster rate than ever before and the research is developing at equal pace. Scientists are now able to picture what colour some were, reproduce the eerie call emitted by the herbivore Parasaurolophus, calculate their running speed, and scan their skulls to deduce the shape and composition of their brains. There's some incredible research going on and thus ever-more interesting material for authors to deploy in their work. And three, by learning about dinosaurs you're soon learning about mythology, astronomy, evolutionary theory and geology, to name only a few areas. It's also a subject full of amazing characters – intrepid fossil-hunters and brilliant scientists – and great stories of thrilling discoveries and fierce rivalries.Here are ten wildly diverse books that I think will have a similar effect: some of them well-...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Tags: Children's books: 8-12 years theguardian.com Children and teenagers Culture Children's books: 7 and under Dinosaurs Editorial Teen books Source Type: news