Curious Questions and Answers About Fossils

When I first came across Curious Questions and Answers About Prehistoric Animals at my local bookstore, I was dimly aware of having seen its illustration style used for other books, but I had no idea there were more prehistoric themed books in its series! Here, I will take a look at the one that might seem redundant when taken together with its companion, but I would argue is the better of the two: Curious Questions and Answers About Fossils.

“Fossils” is very similar to “the other one “Prehistoric Animals”, but with, of course, a tighter focus on fossils as such. This works to this book’s advantage in that it makes it feel a little more organized than its somewhat haphazardly arranged counterpart. Each page of the book is specifically themed around different types of questions that can be answered by fossils.

I like the bright cartoony aesthetic, and while some of the reconstructed animals are similarly imprecise as in the last book, they don’t stand out too much here. I also find that the book feels overall like it doesn’t indulge as heavily in its target audience’s presumably short attention span. Not to say it’s boring in any way, but it has less of the feel of a jumpy, spastic, YouTube video in the way its counterpart sometimes did.

I found some fun little titbits in here that had me nerding out a bit, as well. The page featuring a representation of the geologic column is clearly based on the iconic Ray Troll version that has been endlessly reproduced. Why tinker with the best, I suppose? While not exactly a reference per se, I was also delighted to see a representation of Diadectes, a delightfully obscure “reptilomorph” I had only previously seen at The Whiteside Museum of Natural History. I always just think it’s fun to see when random, less popular fossils pop into things like this!

Curious Questions and Answers About Fossils is a very fun introduction to paleontology for young children, and just generally better and more tightly organized than its counterpart that I reviewed previously. I’m tempted to treat its illustrations somewhat more strictly, but as it manages to rise above its counterpart to a higher quality level of sci-comm than the companion book, I think I will go ahead and give this one my Dino Dad Stomp of Approval.