Dino Dung

My wife had a hard job convincing the courier man that he had just delivered dino dung to Dannemora - Dannemora being the name of our district. But deliver he did! The publishers of Random House Children's books have just sent me an advance copy of Dino Dung - the Scoop on Fossil Feces. This is a new book by Dr Karen Chin and Thom Holmes with illustrations by Karen Carr and another in the Step into Reading series recommended for Grades 2-4. From the case of the Weird White Blobs to the Telltale Tyrannosaur, this book is a real Who `Dung' It? Dr Chin is a world renowned authority on the fecal remains of dinosaurs and her partnership with the highly regarded author of children's books, Thom Holmes, has produced a fascinating insight into the science of coprolites. There are a lot of interesting facts and observations packed into the forty eight pages of this Junior Reader: the role of bacteria in converting dino dung into these trace fossils, how to spot a true coprolite and learning that the size of the pile doesn't necessarily equate to the size of the depositor. As with other books in this series, the pictures in this gem are clear and concise, even when illustrating difficult subjects such as the cut-away sections of ground or sections observed under a microscope. Readers will also enjoyed the subtle humour in the headers such as "The Scat with Nine Lives" The publishers are on to another winner with this book and we will be recommending it to children everywhere - and no doubt a few adults! Roger Smith Publisher of Dinosaurnews http://www.dinosaurnews.org