When was the last time you saw a dinosaur? Particularly a T-Rex? If you think it was at a museum (fossils or reconstructions) or in animation or a book, you are probably not correct. That's my sideways introduction to the topic of the day. You probably HAVE seen a dinosaur in the last few days... if you've seen a bird! And that's surprising close to seeing T. Rex!
Several books about dinosaur-ancestor-links to modern birds have been hitting the shelves. Books for adults and young readers. I've been devouring many of those as research for a current nonfiction writing project. Books intended for adult and for youth audiences are equally revealing and remarkable. I generally use books from the library for such reading, since I lack both the funds and the floor space for the countless books I choose to read. But among the many gems on this topic, one was so impressive that I now own my own copy.
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| WELBECK Children's Books. 2026 Hatchette Children's London |
CHICKENS and OTHER DINOSAURS: How Dinosaurs Became the Birds We Know Today, is written by Ben Lerwill and illustrated by Sarah Edmonds. I wasn't aware of either of these creators and enjoyed exploring their websites. Lerwill is a nonfiction researcher and writer who says he writes "clear, readable pieces from in friendly, reliable text", and I agree! Edwards produces art with accuracy but also whimsical humor. Her site is grin-inducing.
Most of us, from preschool to elders, are familiar with the science evidence that linked birds to early evolutionary sources in dinosaurs. Many, if not most, of us, have concluded that the widely known flying dinosaurs, pterodactyls, were the likely great-great-great... originators of birds we see today.
This is where untrained "assumers" have been proven wrong by science investigators. Birds of today, from chickens to hummingbirds to ostriches, appear to be living remnants of the THERAPOD group of dinosaurs. Among those the most well-known is T. Rex, but they include those ancestors with three forward-facing toes, meat-eaters who ran very fast. Oldest fossil records begin about 230 million years ago, but fossil evidence of their smaller, faster, lighter therapod versions begins about 160 million years ago. So, when the author writes,
"When you are looking at a bird, you are looking at a living dinosaur,"
you must keep that time scale in mind. The generational changes that shaped monstrous T. Rex into the sparrow on your feeder are massive, and yet the changes were not simply a side branch on a family tree. That sparrow and all birds share a significantly similar DNA link directly to their theropod origins.
This incredibly comprehensive and yet child-friendly book incorporates creative sidebar placements with informative illustrations, paleontology and social science evolution debates, along with a thoroughly accurate and exciting explanation of what makes a bird a bird: FEATHERS!
Not necessarily flight, since we know that not all birds fly. But flight certainly did aid in those evolving theropods who could travel to available food sources and habitats, to stay warm as the earth cooled, and to continue theropod survival into present day.
There's a terrific journey through dinosaur history (specifically theropods) including fossil evidence of varied feather-like formations, shifts to smaller, lighter skeletal frames, even evolving hollow bones and hardened beaks with residual teeth and varying arm and claw structures that became wings of one sort or another. Comparisons of fossil-inspired bird-like dinosaurs (none that are pterodactyls) to present day bird species are described in visual contrast and with bite-sized informational text that will stay with readers and bring them back to share facts with others. That's a good thing, because the contents are both detailed and enticing to explore, compare, and then observe in real life. This is a don't-miss nonfiction book for anyone who has ever seen a bird. That would be you, right?
Roaring Brook Press, 2026
While putting titles on hold, or ordering purchases, consider an informational fiction book to pair with the first. THE DINOSAUR AND THE BIRD: A TALE OF PREHISTORIC FRIENDSHIP is written by Richard Ho and illustrated by Jamie Green. Ho's website will reveal the many other appealing books he's written, and Green's website will lead you through an interactive discovery of her own making. This imagined tale about a dinosaur who is not welcomed by others of its species but finds company with a long-billed bird friend. In a modern-day fable of unlikely friendships (think of the lion and the mouse) these tentative, unlikely friends allow a wish to come true-- a wish for a friend. (And yes, some versions of modern birds lived at the same era as the dinosaurs we commonly recognize as such.)
If this sounds like the end of the story, it would be fiction without the "informational" descriptor. The vibrant and abstractly-rendered backgrounds for each scene offer informational content as well as Disney-like appeal. Then, on a single page turn, the two friends witness a fireball falling from the sky. It is distant. Not an immediate threat. But in a compressed timeline, these two live through the ecological changes that darkened the earth, shifted a previously friendly climate, and reduced available food.
The actual consequences over years are presented within a few pages about their lives, revealing the efforts and comforts of feathered, flying devotion. Attempts to support a starving, dying friend are tenderly conveyed. The ending suggests both the science underway and the fable at work, with hope and promise.
Both books contain a wealth of material to think about and discuss, while taking entirely different approaches to their subject matter. Together, they should be in classrooms, libraries, and homes. especially in the hands of anyone of any age who never outgrows a love of dinosaurs, or birds!
