Walking with Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie Handbook by Calliope Glass – OPTIONAL

Glass, Calliope Walking with Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie Handbook 112 pgs. Harper Festival, 2013. $9.99 Content: Language: G (0 swears); Mature Content: G Violence: G

Alex the flying Alexornis takes readers on a journey through prehistoric earth. He follows the story of a young Pachyrhinosaurus named Patchi, the runt of the dino litter. His early life starts with nearly be eaten by a Troodon! When its time for the seasons to change his family embarks on their migration to warmer climates, and Patchi is separated from the herd after an attack by an Gorgosarus, will he ever survive on his own?

This book was so close to being a really great book. The written story of Patchi and his friends is well geared to a second grade reader. Its fun, cute, full of danger, and interesting. The story is interspersed with fact pages, that are a bit more challenging to read, maybe 3-4 grade level. Where the book falters is the imagery. Many of the images are super clear and really add to the story, but the rest look like a photo was taken of the 3d movie screen –rendering it blurry, pixilated and hard to look at. I wish they could have worked with the graphic team to get images that were pre-3D or something. I also worry that because this is a BBC publication that US students may not have seen the movie or might get excited to see the movie after reading this but not have access to it.

EL (K-3) – OPTIONAL Reviewer: Stephanie Elementary School Librarian & Author.