The+Dinosaurs+of+Waterhouse+Hawkins

__The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins__ by Barbara Kerley

Book review by: Jacob Gioia

Hardcover: 48 pages Age Range: 4 years and up Publisher: Scholastic Press; First Edition edition (October 1, 2001) Language: English ISBN-10: 0439114942 ISNB-13: 978-0439114943
 * Bibliographic Information: **

Barbara Kerley grew up in Virginia and is the youngest of three siblings. While growing up her hobbies included playing soccer, reading historical fiction, ice skating, and helping her mom in the kitchen. After college Barbara joined the Peace Corps and was a teacher in Nepal. In Nepal, Barbara met her future husband Scott and they later moved to Seattle with each other. Barbara worked as a baker while attending graduate school in Seattle. Barbara and Scott now live in California where she serves on the local board of education and the Friends of the Library committee.
 * Author Biography: **

__ The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins __ is a true story that follows Waterhouse and his fascination with creating dinosaur models. Waterhouse constructed large models of what he believed dinosaurs looked like when they were roaming the Earth. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Albert were impressed with his work, which encourages Waterhouse. He then held a dinner party on New Years Eve to impress England’s leading scientists with his smaller models, lectures, and illustrations of the dinosaurs. After his dinner party Waterhouse became increasingly popular in the United States and he began to construct models for a Paleozoic Museum in Central Park, New York. After vandals broke into Waterhouse’s workshop and destroyed his work and a corrupt politician put an end to his project, Waterhouse eventually moves back to England to continue following his passion.
 * Summary: **

The illustrations in __The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins__ are extremely effective in contributing to the realism in the story. The illustrations give the reader/audience a very real idea of the implications of the dinosaur models. For example, there is an illustration of a side-by-side comparison of the models when they were originally displayed (in black and white) and the same models in the present day (in color). Besides the color contrast in the illustration to show the time difference, the picture shows the reader that there are lasting implications of the work of Waterhouse Hawkins. This illustration shows that the dinosaur models have made an impact not only on the culture in the late 1800’s, but also today.
 * Analysis: **

__ The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins __ is a relatively long picture book with many words but the illustrations are the standout feature of this book. The illustrations provide a very clear representation of the work of Waterhouse Hawkins. This book will be great in a classroom setting because it is a true story, which can be integrated into a dinosaur curriculum. Children find studying dinosaurs to be fun and exciting and this book makes for a great opportunity to set a foundation about what the students will be learning. While reading this book I thought that after reading the story to the class, students would benefit from making dinosaur models of their own. This would be a great activity to complete while introducing the dinosaur unit so that students can activate previous knowledge to incorporate into their models.
 * Book Review: **

[] - some of Waterhouse’s work
 * Related Links: **

[]

[]