First Son saw this book over my shoulder as I was glancing through books available at Blogging for Books and excitedly asked for it.
Mr. Silvani gives detailed instructions on drawing many different kinds of dinosaurs, using the fossil evidence to shape and color them. There are chapters on theropods, sauropods, armored dinosaurs, ornithopods, and other prehistoric creations. He includes chapters on fine tuning, interpretations, and environments as well. This book includes standard scientific information on dinosaurs and would probably not be appropriate for a family that does not believe in evolution over millions of years.
There's information on dinosaurs throughout, the most valuable of which is related directly to the final details of a dinosaur drawing: the skin or feathers. Any young dinosaur enthusiast may know more about dinosaurs, but may not have considered how that knowledge would impact a drawing.
By far the best part of the book are the little jokes scattered throughout. First Son, who is almost 11, laughed and giggled the whole way through. He especially likes the interjections by the "editor."First Son immediately put the book to use, sketching dinosaurs using the techniques in the book. He's made many a dinosaur drawing (here are some done when he was six), but these did seem to be more an attempt to draw realistic dinosaurs. He also took the book to a friend's house and they enjoyed drawing together (after giggling some more at the jokes).
I received this book for free from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review. The opinions above are my own.
