Big Creatures Past

This pop-up book combines spectacular visual effects with information-packed precis about the seven prehistoric beasts featured. Included are such favorite creatures as Tyrannosaurus rex, Brachiosaurus, the great shark, the blue whale (which has survived into the present) and the giant condor, as well as the lesser-known Indricotherium (ancestor of the rhino) and the giant dragonfly. The sturdy, smoothly functioning paper engineering is of the highest quality: the dinosaurs' heads rise dramatically above the tops of their spreads; the condor, its spread wings tipping toward the reader, fairly lifts off the page; while the great shark leaps toward its prey; and the dragonfly is wafted along on a breeze, its stained-glass wings outstretched. Text segments provide data on each creature's height, length, weight and when and where it lived. Detailed descriptions of their appearances and habits restore to life these colossi of the past. Ages 5-9. (Oct.)