Ladybird Tuesday - Prehistoric Animals and Fossils

I'm slowly working my way through my new haul of vintage Ladybird Books, and this one caught my eye. Harry, like many children, has always been fascinated by dinosaurs and fossils, and so I knew that he'd enjoy looking at this book, even though the actual text is far too complicated for him!

Prehistoric Animals and Fossils is from Series 651, a series of natural history books which are definitely aimed at older readers or adults. I've also looked at another book in this series - Plants and How They Grow. It was published in 1974.

The book begins with an introduction to fossils, what early people thought about them (perhaps that they had fallen from heaven, or were the remains of animals that had died during Noah's flood). It's only been during the last two hundred years that scientists have really understood what fossils are and how they were formed, fascinating stuff. I learn so much from these books - did you know that the word fossil comes from the Latin word 'fossilis' which means something dug up?

The book describes how fossils are formed, the different types of fossil that are found, and has some tips if you want to go fossil hunting yourself. Then it takes us through various periods in Earth's history and the different types of plants and animals that lived in each era.

It finishes with some ways to further develop your interest in fossils. I really liked this page about making your own museum for the fossils that you have found. I did something similar with Harry the other week with some small fossils that he has collected from various places, although his wasn't quite as advanced as the example in the book!

If you love Ladybird books, do pop over and visit Ladybird Tuesday, where Being Mrs C is assembling a really comprehensive catalogue of Ladybird books and reviews.

Below you can find links to all my Ladybird Tuesday book posts.

Snow White and Rose Red
Hansel and Gretel
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
The Three Little Pigs
The Old Woman and her Pig
Little Red Riding Hood
The Ugly Duckling
The Railway Children
A Little Princess
A First book of Aesop's Fables

A Ladybird Book about Knitting
More Things to Make - For Special Occasions
Easy to Make Puppets
Learning to Sew
Stamp Collecting
Tricks and Magic

Prehistoric Animals and Fossils
Dinosaurs
Stone Age Man in Britain
Great Civilisations - Crete
Charles Dickens
Nelson
Lives of the Great Composers Book 1
Lives of the Great Composers Book 2
The Story of Music

Plants and How They Grow
The Ladybird Book of the Night Sky
Sea and Air Mammals
The Farm

The Story of Nuclear Power
The Motor Car
How it Works - The Computer
How it Works - The Rocket
The Story of Ships
The Postman and the Postal Service
People at Work - The Nurse

Understanding Numbers
Talkabout Clothes
Going to School
Teaching Reading

Stories of Special Days and Customs
Christmas Customs

Girls and Boys - A Ladybird Book of Childhood