9 year old - wants to be a paleontologist

[GettinTrimmer]

Hi, can anyone recommend any challenging books covering prehistory before during and after the dinosaurs?

The BBC programme Planet Dinosaur has rekindled my ds's interest in all things pre-historic, and he'd like to be a paleontologist!

TIA

What's his reading age, how challenging are you looking for?

I can't recommend a book (mine all want to be astronauts) but I can recommend .

Actually I tell a lie, I can recommend The Magic of Reality by Richard Dawkins, with the slight caveat that I haven't read it yet but I'm pretty sure it's brilliant anyway.

And Horrible Science: Evolve or Die is probably a good choice as well.

I don't know his reading age, but according to his last school report, he is above average - I'd guess his reading age is about 10/11 years.

When I say challenging, just plenty of detailed information

Thanks for recommendations, off to have a look on amazon!

Not a book, but does he have the DVD Lost Worlds Vanished Lives which is absolutely fantastic and has lots of paleontology in action, so to speak?

My DS13 has been fascinated by palaeontology since he was 4. On his shelves are too many books to enumerate, but the following are particularly well-thumbed (I suggest you browse them online to see which suit your son's reading age):

Scholastic Dinosaurs A to Z by Don Lessem (a 'bible' in this house!)
Dinosaurs: a field guide by Gregory Paul
The World Encyclopaedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Creatures by Dougal Dixon
Sea Monsters: prehistoric creatures of the deep
Paleo Sharks: survival of the strangest [one of series of several similar]

I also recommend you lead him to look at geology - see
Hermes House do several good books:

• The complete guide to Fossils
• ... to Rocks and Minerals

Rockwatch is a wonderful (very cheap to join) club for young geologists - www.rockwatch.org.uk/

You might also try and get hold of the BBC 'Walking with Dinosaurs' and the other two related series from a few years ago. It's available on DVD and watched over and over. See here, bundled in a box set: tinyurl.com/68c44v6.

I thought this was a great deal Fossils

Did you know that the BBC has just been showing a number of other dinosaur programmes besides Planet Dinosaur? Have a look on www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/tv where you can watch them for up to seven days after last broadcast.

Books by Richard Fortey.

Trilobite! and Fossils: A Key to the Past.

They are a lot more advanced really but will give him a really good insight to the subject.