When Dinosaurs Conquered the Skies, a STEM sibling by another name

Family, especially the older branches in our trees can be complicated, can’t it? When Dinosaurs Conquered the Skies is an illustrated book whose sibling we read in 2022. That book, When Plants Took Over the Planet is a gorgeous illustrated book that’s all about the massive wave of plants that crept out of the water millions of years ago. Its sibling, When Dinosaurs Conquered the Skies is cut from a similar cloth in its layout and illustrations. However, in reading it I decided to treat it as a narrative book, instead of a reference book and the result was quite interesting.

When Dinosaurs Conquered the Skies is by Jingmai O’Connor with illustrations by Maria Brzozowska and it starts with a revolutionary claim. Actually, it was revolutionary for us, but scientists are probably over there in a corner shaking their heads at us for just acknowledging or realizing it. People over a certain age were taught that dinosaurs went extinct 66 million years ago, except for that alligator that we see from time to time. However, it’s become common patter in the paleontology community that birds are actually descendants of dinosaurs. They’re part of the Aves group of dinosaurs. That means that the more well know giant lizards are technically part of the non-avian dinosaurs, in addition to birds now being reptiles. Now that your animal classification is ten ways from Sunday, let’s look at the book.

After dropping that bombshell, which some readers will admittedly not notice, it moves to a big-scale view of what fossils are. This includes a geologic timetable, details on when the first dinosaur fossil was discovered (1677), how Xenophanes found sea shells in the 6^th century B.C., and how Mary Anning categorized and discovered fossils in southern England in the early 1800s for tourists.

No book about dinosaurs is complete without Charles Darwin or Thomas Huxley. You’ll also learn that another naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace, encouraged Darwin to publish his theories, or he’d do it first. That is some professional courtesy that is truly from a bygone era. Dinosaurs from China, how feathers evolved, the effects of their colors, different types of flight, specific dig, and much more are highlighted in the book.

There are also dozens upon dozens of specific dinosaurs. Gansus was around 120 million years ago and looks like a modern-day duck. Pelagornis only sounds like pelican, in reality, this beast had a 21-foot wingspan and was the largest bird to ever fly. You’ll also read about some predatory birds that didn’t fly and were known as ‘terror birds’. In that group, Kelenken, was their apex predator, an 11-foot-tall monster with a massive, pointed beak that could eat large creatures whole.

When Dinosaurs Conquered the Skies, is a title that makes sense when you think about it. Birds have hollow bones, which means that they’re less likely to have remained around long enough to become fossilized. That is why there are so many more traditional, non-flight dinosaurs, whose bones have been found during the past millennia. The book also presents its content in accordance from oldest to the most recent; this naturally sets up a narrative.

It’s one that young readers can enjoy as a story. I’ve taught lots of kids who crave reading non-fiction STEM books on evolution and animals. Usually, the only books that have been in their classrooms are the Nat Geo Kids books that are written for a Level 3 audience. This is a reader that has learned to read but is now reading to learn. These are the people that will enjoy When Dinosaurs Conquered the Skies. They’ll get a big overview, and then, through chapter-length passages that are introduced with a subtitle, and illustrations that answer or address something concerning dinosaurs or nature.

Each series of pages builds to the dinosaur’s history, letting you know a little more about them. The next couple of pages then move past that, but incorporate that trait or attribute into how the dinosaurs have changed in one way or the other. Science is, after all, about change and evolution, even the seemingly subtle aspects that happened with our feathered, now dinosaur friends is changing.

When Dinosaurs Conquered the Skies: The Incredible Story of Bird Evolution is by Jingmai O’Connor with illustrations by Maria Brzozowska and is available on Word & Pictures, an imprint of Quarto Publishing Group.

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