In the Past: From Trilobites to Dinosaurs to Mammoths in More Than 500 Million Years

by David Elliott, Matthew Trueman (Illustrator)

Overview

Return to the prehistoric era and discover a host of creatures both novel and familiar, from the mysterious trilobite to the famed T. rex.

Care to meet a dunkleosteus? An apatosaurus? How about the dragonflyesque meganaura? In a collection that’s organized chronologically by epoch and is sure to intrigue everyone from armchair dino enthusiasts to budding paleontologists, David Elliott and Matthew Trueman illuminate some of the most fascinating creatures ever to evolve on the earth. Combining poems both enlightening and artful with illustrations perfect for poring over, this volume ensures fascinating trips back to a time as enthralling and variable as any in our planet’s evolutionary history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763660734
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	03/20/2018
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	405,996
Product dimensions:	10.40(w) x 11.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

David Elliott is the award-winning author of many books for children, including the New York Times best-selling And Here’s to You! as well as On the Farm, In the Wild, In the Sea, and On the Wing. He is also the author of Baabwaa and Wooliam, illustrated by Melissa Sweet; Nobody’s Perfect, illustrated by Sam Zuppardi; and The Two Tims, illustrated by Gabriel Alborozo. David Elliott lives in Warner, New Hampshire.

Matthew Trueman is the illustrator of several books for children, including Hippos Are Huge! by Jonathan London and One Beetle Too Many: The Extraordinary Adventures of Charles Darwin by Kathryn Lasky. He lives in Phillipsburg, New Jersey.

Editorial Reviews

02/05/2018
Elliott and Trueman take readers to the Cambrian period then work their way forward, highlighting unusual and long-gone creatures, several of which will be new to many readers. There’s more than a whiff of caricature to Trueman’s larger-than-life mixed-media portraits, not that the creatures are around to complain. A Dilophosaurus (“Blessed/ with/ crests!”) looks downright startled, and a Yutyrannus is fearsome as it tromps across a snowy landscape (“Your discovery in China/ created quite a stir./ Could dinosaurs be feathered?/ They could. You were”). Elliott’s clever, winking poems are chiefly interested in keeping readers entertained: “Some way you were among/ the first to leave the ocean/ and touch the wet black earth,” he writes as an armored Eurpterus slinks out of the water. “We’re glad you did,/ for what it’s worth.” But closing notes should satisfy their curiosity about these ancient beasts—or send them searching for additional information. Ages 3–7. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

A dramatic portrait gallery of some of our planet's former residents down through the eras, with pithy odes in rhymed or free verse...Many of the informal facts and observations he adds at the end are just as memorably phrased. Highlights from life's last 544 million years infused with humor and wonder.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

It’s not just dinosaurs profiled here; the book heads all the way into the Quaternary period (that’s the one we’re currently in) and introduces creatures like the saber-toothed tiger (“Smilodon”) and the Woolly Mammoth (“Mammuthus”). Trueman’s full-bleed, vibrant portraits bring these long-extinct animals to energetic life, and a final spread offers up more scientific facts. A journey into the past that’s a visual and linguistic joy.
—Booklist (starred review)

Prehistoric beasts are an evergreen favorite among kids, and this wonderful combination of art, poetry, and science is a great addition to libraries.
—School Library Journal (starred review)

Elliott’s clever, winking poems are chiefly interested in keeping readers entertained: “Some way you were among/ the first to leave the ocean/ and touch the wet black earth,” he writes as an armored Eurpterus slinks out of the water. “We’re glad you did,/ for what it’s worth.” But closing notes should satisfy their curiosity about these ancient beasts—or send them searching for additional information.
—Publishers Weekly

Trueman’s dynamic, creatively composed mixed-media illustrations plunge readers into past environments using awesome, sometimes scary perspectives: up close to the bloodied jaws of a carnivorous Dimetro- don, underneath the massive tail of a Brachytrachelopan or a striking Titanoboa, and within the giant ferns of the Triassic Period.
—The Horn Book

Any subject as simultaneously mysterious and accessible as the wide ranging and exotic animals that have roamed the earth deserves to have volumes of poetry written about it. This collection of poems is a good start.
—School Library Connection

In this terrific picture book for 3- to 7-year-olds, we see the coiled terror of the snaky Titanoboa, a mist of blood around his attacking jaws. And here is the nightmarish Yutyrannus, feathered like a chicken and built like a T. rex. David Elliott has written captivating odes, at turns jaunty and wise, for each animal.
—The Wall Street Journal

Prehistoric creatures and poetry? Perfect match! Humorous but informative verse will be sure to inspire little word-loving scientists.
—Scholastic Teacher

Artist Matthew Trueman’s illustrations are big, bold, and bursting with color and detail.
—New York Journal of Books

From the Publisher

★ 04/01/2018
Gr 1–3—Softly detailed watercolors accompany poems about early life-forms in this moving examination of prehistoric Earth. At the bottom of each page is a small box noting the era of the topic creature and showing the range in millions of years. Each short poem communicates the name of the animal and some details about them with a sense of wonder and humor, often playing on readers' expectations. ("Dilophosaurus" is only three words: "Blessed/with/crests!") Most illustrations are a full spread in size. Trueman's mixed-media artwork is filled with texture and small details; muddy river banks, the fleshy ridges of the megalodon's mouth, the remains of trilobites, etc. The majesty of the larger creatures is also well communicated. An author's note discusses ongoing discoveries of fossils, and explains how the prehistoric eras built on each other like stairs. In addition, a "Notes on the Animals" segment lists each covered time period, the poems that fall within that era, and additional information on creatures. VERDICT Prehistoric beasts are an evergreen favorite among kids, and this wonderful combination of art, poetry, and science is a great addition to libraries.—Tamara Saarinen, Pierce County Library, WA

School Library Journal

★ 2017-11-22
A dramatic portrait gallery of some of our planet's former residents down through the eras, with pithy odes in rhymed or free verse.Arranged chronologically from a Cambrian Period trilobite to the hairy Mammuthus of the Quaternary, Trueman's 21 subjects loom majestically—sometimes, as in the case of the gore-spattered Dimetrodon or the giant shark Megalodon, in entirely too-close-up views. They are also rendered in such naturalistic detail (for all that some bear almost human expressions) many viewers are likely to flinch as each page is turned. In his short but vivid lines, Elliott generally offers good reasons to be cautious: "The bad news: Like a centipede. Eight feet long. Or more. / The good news: Arthropleura was an herbivore." Or take saber-toothed Smilodon (please): "No compassion. / No tolerance. / No mercy. / No pity. / And definitely no / ‘Here, kitty, kitty, kitty.' " Though the poet generally reflects the visual immediacy of the images, he sometimes takes a broader view; the tadpolelike Astraspis of the early Ordovician is "One note at the beginning / Of a never-ending song," and as for Tyrannosaurus rex, "even kings / are vanquished / when stars fall / from the sky." Many of the informal facts and observations he adds at the end are just as memorably phrased.Highlights from life's last 544 million years infused with humor and wonder. (Picture book/poetry. 5-10)

Kirkus Reviews