Life-Sized Books

[Stuckasaurus (Dino Dad Reviews)]

I thought I'd make a thread for the "life-sized" genre of books. You know, those books that have 1:1 scale illustrations of the animals they're depciting. There's several for prehistoric animals; the one I've seen most often is "Prehistoric Actual Size" written & illustrated by Steve Jenkins. It's got a nice diversity of prehistoric critters (in what other kids book can you see Leptictidium?), though the illustrations can be hit-or-miss. The invertebrates generally look pretty good, but the dinosaurs are pretty meh.
See my full review at Dino Dad Reviews here: https://dinodadreviews.com/2019/04/04/prehistoric-actual-size/





(My son is modeling the book for y'all here.  )

[Stuckasaurus (Dino Dad Reviews)]

A more recent release is "Lifesize Dinosaurs" written and illustrated by Sophy Henn. While some of the dinosaurs are a bit off (in particular the feathered ones), the illustrations are so charming I can't help but like it! I also like that animals that are too large to fit on a single page get multiple illustrations: for example, on page shows just Diplodocus's head at lifesize, while the next page shows a landscape illustration depicting the whole animal in the context of its environment. Speaking of, the Diplodocus landscape is my favorite illustration in the book. It has a very Mark Witton sort of feel to it.
Check out my full review at Dino Dad Reviews: https://dinodadreviews.com/2019/03/19/lifesize-dinosaurs/





I also like this page of life-sized dinosaur eggs. Usually discussion of dinosaur reproduction just features a token Maiasaura nest, but seeing the range of sizes and shapes here really gives a sense of the diversity of dino reproduction strategies. Also, note the clear Jurassic Park reference with that naked Deinonychus chick. 

[HD-man]

I thought I'd make a thread for the "life-sized" genre of books.

Don't forget Naish's Dinosaurs Life Size: https://paleoaerie.org/2014/08/05/how-big-is-your-favorite-dinosaur-find-out-here/

though the illustrations can be hit-or-miss. The invertebrates generally look pretty good, but the dinosaurs are pretty meh.

That's putting it nicely: http://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=2210.msg225990#msg225990

Also, note the clear Jurassic Park reference with that naked Deinonychus chick. 

Scaly, not naked. In any case, I'm not sure it's meant to be a JP reference. If it is, then it should actually look like this (as opposed to the GEICO gecko):