Kids’ books about dinosaurs roam the Earth in much higher numbers these days than their flesh-ripping, plant-stripping subjects ever did. Though advances in the field of paleontology are always being made, when it comes to books, it often seems as though just about every angle has been covered: brand-new dinosaurs, weird dinosaurs, underwater dinosaurs, feathered dinosaurs, dinosaur families, dinosaurs found only in certain parts of the world, and so on. Which just means that, given some kids’ insatiable appetites for all things terrible and lizard-like, any new dino-book has to put in a little effort to stand apart from the herd.

It’s a lesson that should have been heeded by the makers of Breakout Dinosaurs. Though put together with help from a source no less distinguished than the Royal Ontario Museum, the book has no apparent central focus and ends up, in its attempt to cover as much dino-territory as possible, merely repeating a lot of information that has been exhaustively covered elsewhere. Even the ROM connection is a bit of a red herring: though the cover features an angry-looking T. Rex standing outside the new ROM building, there is little reference inside the book to the museum itself.

The book’s introduction and subtitle also suggest a focus on Canadian dinosaurs. The map of Canadian dinosaur discoveries seems to confirm this, but then why are so many non-Canadian dinosaurs – such as the Sinosauropteryx, which, though discovered by a Canadian, has never been found here – given their own spreads?

Alan Barnard’s brightly coloured illustrations are on every page, though many are of the standard prey-slashing or nest-tending variety. All of them are interesting to look at, but, like the text, provide no new insight or information for a young paleontologist-in-training.