Daniel's Dinosaurs: A True Story of Discovery
Two eight year olds make one of the most important dinosaur finds in North America.
Charles Helm's "Daniel's Dinosaurs: A True Story of Discovery" is an entertaining and educational book that will capture the attention of all ages.
Exploring the countryside around the remote community of Tumbler Ridge, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Northeast British Columbia, eight year old Daniel Helm and Mark Turner make a discovery that is important enough that it attracts world renown dinosaur experts to the area. That discovery is ninety-three-million-year-old dinosaur footprints! Even more fascinating is the fact that experts eventually found dinosaur bones in association with the footprints. The Tumbler Ridge find is one of only a few sites in the world where dinosaur bones of that age have been found.
"Daniel's Dinosaurs" is interesting not just because of the story it tells but because of the format in which it is told. The book is filled with color photographs of the boys and the various paleontologists that ultimately found their way to the site. The photographs capture the personalities of the boys, the excitement of the find, and the beauty of the region. They also capture children's interests.
My boys carefully perused each photograph, gleaning all the detail their little minds could take in! The book is educational: it is a factual account of one of the more important dinosaur finds in North America. Interspersed with the photographs are maps and illustrations that emphasize that importance.
