Discover Texas Dinosaurs

Through photos and narrative, some of Texas' most dedicated scientists show you actual specimens of dinosaur material found in Texas, as well as dinosaur exhibits found throughout the state.

Here are the amazing stories of the dinosaurs that have been found in the world's greatest dinosaur "graveyards" -- from the Gobi Desert in Mongolia and the badlands of Alberta, Canada, to the desolate Valley of the Moon in Argentina. Find out how these astonishing creatures lived and how they died. Book jacket.

Discusses the various species of dinosaurs discovered in Texas and where their fossil remains can be seen.

Today, after mountains of time have passed, the story of dinosaurs in what is now Texas is being reconstructed, footprint by footprint, bone by bone. Lone Star Dinosaurs tells that story, along with the exciting tale of the discoveries that have opened a peephole into the past. Behind each fossil find, there is not just a dinosaur but a person - sometimes a child - whose spark of curiosity lights the picture of prehistory. This is a thrilling story, engagingly written and beautifully illustrated, through which young and old alike can enter the world of the dinosaurs and the world of the dinosaur hunters. Dinosaurs like Pleurocoelus, Alamosaurus, Chasmosaurus, Tyrannosaurus, and Tenontosaurus are a Texas legacy from worlds long past. Texas boasts of every basic group of dinosaurs - a remarkable diversity that samples nearly the entire range of dinosaurian development over an immense expanse of time. In fact, the three dinosaur-bearing areas within the state - the Panhandle, Central Texas, and Big Bend - yield treasures of vastly different ages, from the beginning of the Mesozoic Era more than 200 million years ago to the time of the big extinction some 66 million years ago. These dinosaurs lived in such different arrangements of the continents and oceans that they may as well have lived in different worlds. Their stories offer a compelling picture of the history of life on our planet.

"Provides an annotated timeline of the discovery of Tyrannosaurus rex including details on the scientists, dig sites, fossils, and other findings that have shaped our knowledge of this dinosaur"--

Scholastic and the American Museum of Natural History join forces in a thrilling new picture book about the discovery of the Titanosaur -- the biggest, heaviest creature to ever walk Earth! Get ready to meet the Titanosaur -- the biggest, heaviest creature to ever walk the Earth! This book tells the story of the discovery of this new dinosaur from the mouths of the paleontologists who led the dig! From its discovery by a local herder, to the organization and completion of the excavation, this riveting story will have readers on the edge of their seats, and the beautifully painted illustrations will mesmerize. The final spread will open up into a gatefold showing a photograph of the full Titanosaur skeleton on display at the museum. Chock-full of back matter like a glossary and extra information and photographs from the dig, and an inside jacket poster of the Titanosaur, kids of all ages will devour this book.

Where the Paluxy River now winds through the North Texas Hill Country, the great lizards of prehistory once roamed, leaving their impressive footprints deep in the limy sludge of what would become the earth’s Cretaceous layer. It wouldn’t be until a summer day in1909, however, when young George Adams went splashing along the creekbed, that chance and shifting sediments would reveal these stony traces of an ancient past. Young Adams’s first discovery of dinosaur tracks in the Paluxy River Valley, near the small community of Glen Rose, Texas, came more than one hundred million years after the reign of the dinosaurs. During this prehistoric era, herds of lumbering “sauropods” and tri-toed, carnivorous “theropods” made their way along what was then an ancient “dinosaur highway.” Today, their long-ago footsteps are immortalized in the limestone of the riverbed, arousing the curiosity of picnickers and paleontologists alike. Indeed, nearly a century after their first discovery, the “stony oddities” of Somervell County continue to draw Saturday-afternoon tourists, renowned scholars, and dinosaur enthusiasts from across the nation and around the globe. In her careful, and colorful, history of Dinosaur Valley State Park, Jasinski deftly interweaves millennia of geological time with local legend, old photographs, and quirky anecdotes of the people who have called the valley home. Beginning with the valley’s “first visitors”—the dinosaurs—Jasinski traces the area’s history through to the decades of the twentieth century, when new track sites continued to be discovered, and visitors and locals continued to leave their own material imprint upon the changing landscape. The book reaches its culmination in the account of the hard-won battle fought by Somervell residents and officials during the latter decades of the century to secure Dinosaur Valley’s preservation as a state park.

Like everything in the Lone Star State, the history of Texas is larger than life. The flags of six different nations have flown over the state, which had a rich Native American heritage long before European explorers such as Cabeza de Vaca, Coronado, and La Salle ever arrived. The state was even its own republic, achieving independence from Mexico in 1836, yet joined the United States in 1845. Author Karen Bush Gibson tells the 500-year saga of this unique state, from the founding of the Spanish Missions to the victory at San Jacinto, from the Civil War to the first oil gusher at Spindletop, from the Great Storm that destroyed Galveston to the establishment of NASA's Mission Control in Houston. Texas History for Kids also includes 21 informative and fun activities to help readers better understand the state's culture, politics, and geography. Kids will recreate one of the six flags to fly over Texas, make castings of local wildlife tracks, design a ranch's branding iron, celebrate Juneteenth by reciting General Order Number 3, build a miniature Battle of Flowers float, and more. This valuable resource also includes a time line of significant events, a list of historic sites to visit or explore online, and Web resources for further study. Karen Bush Gibson is the author of Women in Space, Women Aviators, Native American History for Kids, and three dozen other books for young readers. She lives in Norman, Oklahoma.