Book Description
for Titanosaur by Diego Pol, Jose Luis Carballido, and Florencia Gigena
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
A fascinating narrative reveals the painstaking process of uncovering and preserving the bones of a titanosaur in Patagonia, Argentina—the largest dinosaur fossil ever found. Authors Diego and José, both paleontologists, spent ten days digging up a colossal femur discovered by a gaucho on his land. After gathering a team, they returned to the site to continue digging, quickly identifying the bones as those of a plant-eating titanosaur. All in all, they uncovered more than 180 bones from seven dinosaurs. The largest, when alive, would have measured 122 feet in length and weighed a whopping 70 tons. Sidebars enrich the narrative with additional information about the tools used by paleontologists; the calculation of a dinosaur’s body mass; titanosaur bones, teeth, and behavior; the process of plaster-casting and transporting fragile fossils; and camp life for paleontologists on digs. Illustrations are accompanied by photographs of the dig and fossils, including a double-page spread of the assembled skeleton in a museum. (Ages 5–9)
CCBC Choices 2020. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2020. Used with permission.