Elliott’s Guide to Dinosaurs
Written by Elliott Seah
Greystone Books   11/15/2016
978-1-77164-237-8
48 pages    Ages 7—10

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“What did the world look like when dinosaurs roamed the Earth? Eight-year-old author Elliott Seah took it upon himself to find out, and in his first book, he takes readers on a fact-filled exploration of these amazing animals from our planet’s distant past. With lively illustrations, Elliott provides fascinating answers to important questions about where dinosaurs came from, what they ate, how they lived, and how a mass extinction brought their time on Earth to an end. Helpful extras include resources for further reading and a list of Elliott’s recommended museums with dinosaur collections.” [PRESS RELEASE]

Review
Elliott’s Guide to Dinosaurs takes readers through dinosaurs’ origins, behavior, and extinction. Before going into the dinosaurs of each period in the Mesozoic Era, Elliott explains many generalities of dinosaurs. These include new discoveries (Nanuqsaurus found in the Artic; “Nanuq” is an Inuktitut word meaning polar bear), the origins of dinosaurs (including the geologic time scale), diets (pictures of real teeth), defending (tails could become whips or clubs) and attacking (herbivores used their head; carnivores their teeth), colors (mostly unknown), locomotion (running depended on the number of toes), reproduction (sauropod babies are alone from birth), social life (lived in groups for security), and skeletons, including a comparison between dinosaur and human. Phew! That is a lot of information, which is all illustrated.
There are two types of dinosaurs: saurischians, which have a lizard-like pelvis and the ornithischians, which have a bird-like pelvis. In each period (Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous), Elliott describes four dinosaurs, including in which museum you can see a skeleton. Several references are part of the back matter, including books read and recommends by Elliott for anyone interested in dinosaurs, related websites, and recommended museums from Elliott’s travels.

Visually the book is well coordinated and full of enough information for Elliot’s Guide to Dinosaurs to be a first reference. Being nonfiction, there is no narrator, but there is a guide. A small dinosaur—a new discovery just for this book—named Seahsaurus after Elliott. Seahsaurus, a cute green dino with a winning smile, adds comments and side information, but then disappears once Elliott takes readers into the actual dinosaurs of each period. That’s a shame, as this little guide was said to deliver extra information throughout the book and I noticed his absence immediately.
Elliott’s Guide to Dinosaurs is a wonderful and informative book on dinosaurs and paleontology. But what is most impressive is Elliott. He wrote Elliott’s Guide to Dinosaurs for a school assignment. He collaborated with his mentor, Christine Cade, who also loves paleontology. At the time, Elliott was eight-years-old. Yes, you read this right. Elliott attended a gifted and talented elementary school, Margerite-Bourgeoys, in Quebec. Each student had to write a book that would remain in the school library.

The project book impressed paleontologist Hans Larsson, who invited Elliott to show off his book at the 60th annual Conference of Canadian Paleontologists. So many paleontologist requested a copy it was suggested he try to publish the book. Elliott took the book to a book show and came away with three offers. He was so involved in the making of the book that he actually chose the pictures and their placement next to his text. Now, if you are wondering if Elliott Seah is a boy genius, no one mentions this, so who knows. But consider this: Elliott began high school this past September . . . at the age of ten.

ELLIOTT’S GUIDE TO DINOSAURS. Text copyright © 2016 by Elliott Seah. Illustrations copyright © 2016 by ILLUSTRATOR. Reproduced by permission of the publisher,  Greystone Books, Vancouver/Berkeley.

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Originally published 2015 by Éditions Multimondes as Petit Guide des Dinosaures

 

AWARDS
Nominated for the 2016-2017 Forest of Reading® Award from the Ontario Library Association

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Reprinted with permission from ELLIOTT’S GUIDE TO DINOSAURS © 2016 by Elliott Seah, Greystone Books.

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Copyright © 2016 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews. All Rights Reserved

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Elliott’s Guide to Dinosaurs
Written by Elliott Seah
Greystone Books 11/15/2016
9781771642378