The Wild Life of Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals – at a glance
The School Reading Lists’ five word review: A comprehensive guide to early animals.
Children’s book title: The Wild Life of Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals.
Children’s author: Mike Barfield.
Children’s illustrator: Paula Bossio.
Genre: Children’s non-fiction.
Published by: Buster Books.
ISBN: 9781780559322.
Recommended for children aged: 9-11 year-olds.
First published: Paperback July 2024.
This children’s book is ideal for: Sharing with KS2 children studying dinosaurs, prehistoric life, or evolution; or for promoting reading for pleasure with KS2 pupils who are dinosaur-mad or fact-fiends!
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Our review:
The Wild Life of Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals is a comprehensive guide to early life for KS2 children. A popular topic with many KS2 children, especially as they begin to become independent readers and select material more successfully for reading for pleasure – this title would be ideal to include in libraries as a leisure read.
The detail included however ensures that this title also has use as a support text for curriculum topics on this subject. There are progressive timelines to support a pupil’s understanding of when exactly certain creatures fit into the evolution of species and there are also features to make pupils consider our responsibility for species moving forwards. The terminology used couldn’t help but engage even the most expert young fact finder and this detail also serves to make the text useful across KS2, rather than limiting the text’s use to a younger or older audience.
Unlike some guides to dinosaurs or prehistoric times, this title is refreshingly presented in a bright, colourful comic book style. This helps to persuade young readers who are struggling to engage with just how long ago this was and who may find other titles on the subject a little dry.
The graphic approach, with text broken into manageable chunks, also ensures this text is accessible to all – including those who find reading more of a challenge or those requiring support for specific conditions e.g. dyslexia.
The Wild Life of Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals is a smashing non-fiction title. With endless use in a primary setting, this is a book that is sure to be well-thumbed as soon as it is added to collections.
Our verdict:
The Wild Life of Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals is ideal for use in KS2 to support curriculum topics and to satisfy even the most avid non-fiction fan. This title is packed with page after page of information to share in an easy-to-access format.
Many thanks to Buster Books for the review copy.
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If you like The Wild Life of Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals by Mike Barfield you might also like: Evolution by Sarah Darwin, Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Life by Professor Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan, Dinosaurs! Dinosaurs! Dinosaurs! by Susan Martineau and Vicky Barker, Where Are You Really From? by Adam Rutherford and Darwin’s Dragons by Lindsay Galvin.
Browse our dinosaurs-themed list
