Little Tiger ISBN: 978178881090-6 £7.99
This is a brilliant and disappointing book, both at the same time. The storyline is aimed at KS1 – mad scientists use a time machine to travel back through time – yet the language is very sophisticated. Wilfred and Olbert travel back through time. They pass through many geological periods – the Devonian; Carboniferous; Triassic; Jurassic; Cretaceous, Neogene and Quatenary periods. Each is really well illustrated by lots of detailed pictures of the creatures living at the time – but most pictures are so small that it is hard to really visualise the creature, despite the detail. What, in my opinion, is missing most, despite the illustrations, is a feel of what it was really like in each of these periods, despite the clever artwork. And there is no real way of seeing just how long each of these periods of time were. An attractive book, yet it raises more questions than it answers. I think it might appeal to older pupils with an interest in dinosaurs, but it is hard to pick a target audience.
Alf Wilkinson