Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Can it be that dinosaurs still actually live in our backyards, fly in the sky, and poop on our cars? Indeed. Though it’s not exactly news anymore, Sheneman here gives the bird-dino connection fresh jolts of wonder and hilarity. He traces it from the Jurassic Era to today—explaining how an asteroid brought the age of dinosaurs to a sudden end (allowing, the mammalian author rashly claims, mammals to become “the dominant form of life”) but left one branch of feathered theropods to evolve, diversify, and spread to nearly every corner of our planet. The illustrations follow suit, beginning with mildly caricatured, dot- or googly-eyed dinosaurs posing in idyllic settings and making dim-bulb side comments. These give way in stages to views of modern (equally verbal) penguins, pigeons, peacocks, and other avian species in various habitats before gathering with their (even more) prehistoric forbears for a droll but revealing group portrait and then perching around the closing timeline. “I still don’t get the resemblance,” mutters a fuddled-looking T. rex at the end, looking down at a chicken. Viewers, though, well might. A trollish caveman, a lumpy White descendant in a lab coat (identified as “your dad”) joking about the fried dinosaur on his plate, and a dinner companion politely telling him to cut it out are the only human figures in sight. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 68% of actual size.) Why pine for prehistoric predators when their direct descendants are perching on the nearest birdbath? (Informational picture book. 5-9) Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

With humor and clarity, Sheneman traces the evolution of birds, from meat-eating theropods to the fine-feathered friends we know today. The colorful, cartoonlike illustrations help convey information; the dinosaurs and their bird relations have their say in goofy speech bubbles. Many readers may be familiar with the bird/dinosaur connection, but Sheneman takes a closer look at how birds' prehistoric ancestors avoided extinction. An illustrated "Highlights of Avian History" is appended. Pair with Dennis Nolan's Dinosaur Feathers. (c) Copyright 2021. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Can it be that dinosaurs still actually live in our backyards, fly in the sky, and poop on our cars? Indeed. Though its not exactly news anymore, Sheneman here gives the bird-dino connection fresh jolts of wonder and hilarity. He traces it from the Jurassic Era to todayexplaining how an asteroid brought the age of dinosaurs to a sudden end (allowing, the mammalian author rashly claims, mammals to become the dominant form of life) but left one branch of feathered theropods to evolve, diversify, and spread to nearly every corner of our planet. The illustrations follow suit, beginning with mildly caricatured, dot- or googly-eyed dinosaurs posing in idyllic settings and making dim-bulb side comments. These give way in stages to views of modern (equally verbal) penguins, pigeons, peacocks, and other avian species in various habitats before gathering with their (even more) prehistoric forbears for a droll but revealing group portrait and then perching around the closing timeline. I still dont get the resemblance, mutters a fuddled-looking T. rex at the end, looking down at a chicken. Viewers, though, well might. A trollish caveman, a lumpy White descendant in a lab coat (identified as your dad) joking about the fried dinosaur on his plate, and a dinner companion politely telling him to cut it out are the only human figures in sight. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 68% of actual size.) Why pine for prehistoric predators when their direct descendants are perching on the nearest birdbath? (Informational picture book. 5-9) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.