cover image Dinosaur Hunters

Dinosaur Hunters

Kate McMullan. Random House Books for Young Readers, $3.99 (48pp) ISBN 978-0-394-81150-5

This informative entry in the Step into Reading series is a well-paced historical survey of paleontology. Readers learn of Mary Ann and Gideon Mantell's pivotal discovery of Iguanadon; the intense rivalries that characterized the 19th-century race for dinosaur discoveries in America's West; the vast amount of dinosaur remains yet to be studied by scientists; and current work of ``Dinosaur Jim'' Jensen, who discovered the Brachiosaurus, the Supersaurus and the Ultrasaurus. Many fascinating details are included in a chapter covering the how-to's of early dinosaur digs contrasted with today's technologically advanced, yet still labor-intensive world of scientific discovery. The book presents a great mix of lively narrative and satisfying facts, a perfect choice for newly independent readers. Ages 7-10. (May)