What kid hasn’t dreamed of exploring the world when dinosaurs roamed the earth? Author and illustrator Rachel Ignotofsky put on her paleontologist garb to go all in on researching her latest book, Dinosaurs: Exploring Prehistoric Life and Geological Time, out this week from Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House.
‘ Dinosaurs: Exploring Prehistoric Life and Geological Time’ by Rachel Ignotofsky | Photo: Thomas Mason
“We went all over Utah, and I went to the Dinosaur National Park, where they have all these Jurassic animals, and you can go and touch everything, and then around there’s also, they call it the carnivore death pit, and it’s another spot from the Jurassic where it’s kind of this big mystery of all these allosauruses, which is kind of like this Apex Jurassic. There’s tons of them dead in one place, and they’re like, ‘What happened? Why did this happen?’” she tells me excitedly over lunch.
Ignotofsky’s glee isn’t just palpable in person; it pops off the page of her beautifully illustrated new book, cleverly designed in a way that she describes as “the four quadrants.” While little kids are naturally drawn to dinosaurs, she makes sure her books have enough depth to appeal to all ages. “When I’m selling books at Comic-Con, I will get whole families, and I’ll get a grandpa buying a book, a cool teenager buying a book, and then a child buying a book. It’s really cool to see it play out, because they all like it for different reasons. They’re all reacting to different elements in the book that you put in there specifically.”
In Dinosaurs, Ignotofsky takes readers through a fairly in-depth history of the earth with infographics, maps, and illustrations that bring these fascinating extinct animals to life with an inviting illustrated journey across more than 4.5 billion years.
“I remember reading books I loved, the dense EK books and Smithsonian books when I was a kid, and then I still love them as an adult. So, I’m like, why not make books that you can literally keep forever and read forever?” said Ignotofsky, whose first book, Women in Science, was published in 2016. “So, I will literally have young girls come up to me being like, ‘I bought this in middle school, and now I’m bringing it to a signing,’ and they’re like, ‘It’s still my favorite book.’”
From ‘ Dinosaurs: Exploring Prehistoric Life and Geological Time’ by Rachel Ignotofsky | Photo: Thomas Mason
From ‘ Dinosaurs: Exploring Prehistoric Life and Geological Time’ by Rachel Ignotofsky | Photo: Thomas Mason
A lot of readers tell her the same thing. “I think books are often the first thing that a kid buys to be like, ‘This is who I am, you know.’ They buy it independently of their parents. It’s about their interests. And I think by creating these books that are about science and history, it can really help kids and adults to be comfortable with science, be more scientifically literate in general, and not feel intimidated by these.”
Ignotofsky, who moved to Santa Barbara with her husband/business partner, Thomas Mason, during the pandemic, continues, “I mean, this is a tough topic, but honestly, just turning it into cartoons and putting smiles in everyone’s faces, all of a sudden, it’s not intimidating anymore. Big words are not scary with the little cartoon mammoth (or the gargantuan Tyrannosaurus rex, the long-necked Brontosaurus, and the lumbering Stegosaurus) telling you what’s up.”
Godmothers in Summerland is hosting double-dinosaur storytime on Saturday, November 8, featuring Rachel Ignotofsky (Dinosaurs: Exploring Prehistoric Life and Geological Time) and Suzanne Lang (author) and Max Lang (illustrator) of Archibald and the Furry Dinosaurs, two sessions at 11 a.m. and noon. See godmothers.com/events for details.
From ‘ Dinosaurs: Exploring Prehistoric Life and Geological Time’ by Rachel Ignotofsky | Photo: Thomas Mason
