Did you know these seven little facts about Dinosaurs?

Here are some interesting facts about our mighty beast friends that you might not have known:

The Name: The name dinosaur comes from the term Dinosauria, which means terribly great lizards. But dinosaurs were not lizards, only distantly related to them, and most were not very terrible.

Dino Intelligence: One of the most intelligent dinosaurs was a small, bipedal theropod called Troodon. Troodon‘s brain was as large, compared with its body weight, as that of many modern birds and small mammals. It had excellent vision and probably hunted for mammals and other prey at night.

Millions of Years: Dinosaurs lived throughout most of the Mesozoic Era, which is divided into three periods—Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous. The Triassic Period lasted from about 250 million to 200 million years ago. The Jurassic Period lasted from about 200 million to 145 million years ago, and the Cretaceous Period from about 145 million to 65 million years ago.

From Birth To Death: Scientists do not know how all dinosaurs reproduced and can only guess how long dinosaurs lived. Fossil dinosaur eggs show that at least some dinosaurs laid hard-shelled eggs, as do modern alligators. They can estimate the time it took for dinosaurs to grow to adult size; studies of the microscopic structure of dinosaur bones suggest that dinosaurs grew rapidly.

Very First Findings: Before the 1800’s, no one knew that dinosaurs had ever existed. People who found a dinosaur tooth or bone did not know what it was. However, around 1818, an English scholar, William Buckland, obtained a large lower jaw that contained a number of sharp teeth. After studying this jaw, Buckland came to the conclusion that it was unlike any fossil previously discovered. So he gave it a new name, Megalosaurus(great lizard), in 1824.

The Mysterious T-Rex: Early scientists first thought this giant meat-eater was primarily a scavenger, feeding only on the decaying bodies of dead dinosaurs. They also thought it lived a sluggish life, sleeping or basking in the sun between meals. However, scientists gradually came to believe that Tyrannosaurushad a much more dynamic lifestyle and argue that it was an active predator as well as a scavenger.

The Disappearance: There are many developed theories that explain dinosaur extinction. Two of the major theories involve 1) the collision of an asteroid with Earth and 2) large volcanic eruptions in what is now India.

Learn all about dinosaurs with World Book for Kids and Hot Topic – Dinosaurs and Early Animals.  Remember to count your minutes for Club Read!

#ClubRead Selection: Red Berries White Clouds Blue Sky Grades 3-5

Red Berries White Clouds Blue Sky by Sandra Dallas

It’s 1942: Tomi Itano, 12, is a second-generation Japanese American who lives in California with her family on their strawberry farm. Although her parents came from Japan and her grandparents still live there, Tomi considers herself an American. She doesn’t speak Japanese and has never been to Japan. But after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, things change. No Japs Allowed signs hang in store windows and Tomi’s family is ostracized. Things get much worse. Suspected as a spy, Tomi’s father is taken away. The rest of the Itano family is sent to an internment camp in Colorado. Many other Japanese American families face a similar fate. Tomi becomes bitter, wondering how her country could treat her and her family like the enemy. What does she need to do to prove she is an honorable American? Sandra Dallas shines a light on a dark period of American history in this story of a young Japanese American girl caught up in the prejudices and World War II.

Read about the author on Hot Topic – Club Read Kids

Join the club, school’s out and summer reading is here!

Don’t know what to read? Visit Club Read for Kids or Club Read for Teens to find hundred’s of reading suggestions.

Get Two eAudio Books Each Week for Free with SYNC

SYNC is a free summer audiobook program for young adults (13+). Starting  May 7th 2015, SYNC will give away two complete audiobook downloads a week – a current young adult title along with a thematically paired classic or required summer reading title. Sign up for email or text alerts and be first to know when new titles are available to download at www.audiobooksync.com.

For more summer reading suggestions visit Club Read for Teens.

Hot New YA Titles

Check out these hot new YA titles just for teens and don’t forget to join Club Read.

Girls Like Us by Gail Giles

With gentle humor and unflinching realism, Gail Giles tells the gritty, ultimately hopeful story of two special ed teenagers entering the adult world. We understand stuff. We just learn it slow. And most of what we understand is that people what ain’t Speddies think we too stupid to get out our own way. And that makes me mad. Quincy and Biddy are both graduates of their high school’s special ed program, but they couldn’t be more different: suspicious Quincy faces the world with her fists up, while gentle Biddy is frightened to step outside her front door. When they’re thrown together as roommates in their first “real world” apartment, it initially seems to be an uneasy fit. But as Biddy’s past resurfaces and Quincy faces a harrowing experience that no one should have to go through alone, the two of them realize that they might have more in common than they thought—and more important, that they might be able to help each other move forward. Hard-hitting and compassionate, Girls Like Us is a story about growing up in a world that can be cruel, and finding the strength—and the support—to carry on.
Odin’s Ravens by K. L. Armstrong
Seven kids, Thor’s hammer, and a whole lot of Valkyries are the only things standing against the end of the world.
When thirteen-year-old Matt Thorsen, a modern day descendant of the Norse god Thor, was chosen to represent Thor in an epic battle to prevent the apocalypse he thought he knew how things would play out. Gather the descendants standing in for gods like Loki and Odin, defeat a giant serpent, and save the world. No problem, right?
But the descendants’ journey grinds to a halt when their friend and descendant Baldwin is poisoned and killed and Matt, Fen, and Laurie must travel to the Underworld in the hopes of saving him. But that’s only their first stop on their journey to reunite the challengers, find Thor’s hammer, and stop the apocalypse—a journey filled with enough tooth-and-nail battles and larger-than-life monsters to make Matt a legend in his own right.
Authors K.L. Armstrong and M.A. Marr return to Blackwell in the epic sequel to Loki’s Wolves with more explosive action, adventure and larger-than-life Norse legends.