Children’s Literature Evaluation Form

Your Name: Jun Wu

Book Title: The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins

Author: Barbara Kerley

Genre: Biography/Picture Book

Illustrator: Brain Selznick

Publisher/Year: Scholastic/2001

Evaluate the Book for the following elements

Style and Language: Using examples for the book, explain the following: Word

choices, dialogue, rhythm, rhyme and sentence length. Share unexpected insights

or interesting information the reader learns from this story. (5 points)

This book is written in simple and real-life based vocabulary that allow children to

understand the story, which is about a talented and dedicated English artist and

lecturer in the 1850’s, Waterhouse Hawkins, who made his amazing imagination and

creations of ancient animals come alive. This book also refreshes reader's general

understanding of history (non-fiction books) and dinosaur history by introducing a

piece of commonly unknow history of when and how the first made life-sized

models of dinosaurs were created.

Character: With examples from the book, provide the following- (5 points) Who is

the main character?

How can the reader relate to the character?

Who are the supporting characters?

The main character is Waterhouse Hawkins, and the supporting characters are

scientist Richard Owen who helped Waterhouse Hawkins with building the dinosaur

skeletons, Queen Victoria, and Prince Albert. The story is fascinating to attract

readers who are dinosaur and history lovers and also to readers who appreciate

imagination and creative mind.

Plot: Summarize the major events of the story (6 points)

Waterhouse Hawkins had been passionate about animals and sculpting models of

them since young. His passion eventually led him to an exciting project, creating life-

sized models of dinosaurs. With the help of scientist Richard Owen, Hawkins studied

the fossil remains of dinosaurs and compared it to a living animal and then

constructed an enormous model. In order to impress the leading scientists in their

country, Hawkins invited them to a dinner party inside the body of his dinosaur

model. Also, he wanted the public to learn about the dinosaurs, so he built smaller

models, made illustrated books, and held lectures of dinosaurs. His amazing work of

dinosaur sculptures is still displayed in the Crystal Palace, the famous art and science

museum in England.

Setting: Explain the place and time of this book. (2 points)

Theme: What is the main message of this book? (2 points)

Setting: Waterhouse Hawkins’s workshop located in England

Theme: How Waterhouse Hawkins studied, imagined, and constructed to bring the

life-sized models of dinosaurs to life and educate the masses on the subject.

Illustration: Analyze the book you selected with the following categories

Style (realism, surrealism, expressionism, impressionism, naïve, cartoon art)? (2

points) Realism

Media Choice (paints, oils watercolors, pencils, pen, charcoal, crayons, acrylic,

chalk): (2 points) Watercolors paint on paper

Give examples of describe how the following visual elements are used in the

illustrations: (3)

Line: Solid curved, rounded, and flowing

Shapes: Simple, curved, and identifiable

Color: Vibrant colors in the tone of warm (yellow, brown, orange, red, burgundy,

purple), cool (blue, green), and neutral colors

Texture: Soft with a two-dimensional quality

Page design (placement of the illustrations, use of borders, white and dark space

and all pages the same or different). (3)

The illustrations are not placed in a consistent style throughout the book. Some are

above the text; some are displayed around the text; some are on the left side of the

text, and some are on the right of the text. Also, the use of borders is only employed

on few pages in the book. The overall illustrations are very detailed and provide a

pleasing visual experience to the readers.

Child Development Theory: Choose either Piaget, Erickson or Social Emotional to

describe the connection to the book Chose 1 only (5 points)

Piaget:

Name the stage Concrete Operational Stage and the age 7-11

Explain the cognitive development from this stage and provide an example from the

book to support your choice:

Children at this stage begin to develop more logical and methodical manipulation of

symbols, and they become less egocentric and start to think about how others may

think and feel. Through reading the book and hidden messages from the book

illustrations, children can see Waterhouse Hawkins’s enthusiasm and the hardships

he may have experienced/endured and persevered, as well as how he realized his

dreams of building models of dinosaur and educating the public on the existence of

dinosaurs. The book The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins contains inspiring topics

such as dreams, imagination, creativity, and determination, which can allow children

to make connections to the story and understand that even though Waterhouse’s

first made dinosaur models may not have accurately manifested dinosaurs,

compared to how we see dinosaur sculptures nowadays, he still tried his best to

pave the way to bring ancient extinct animals to life for future generations to

experience. Children would also understand the importance of “Do what you love”

and “Love what you do”.

Erickson:

Name the stage and the age

Explain the cognitive development from this stage and provide an example from the

book to support your choice:

Emotional Development:
Identify the age:

Explain the social development for this age and how the book relates

to the emotional level you chose:

1 would not recommend 2 average 3 highly recommended

Your rating of the book: 3

Why? This book is informative and enjoyable for readers of all ages who are

interested in dinosaurs, history, interesting real-life characters, museums and art.

This book is delightful to read and learn about the impressive genius Waterhouse

Hawkins’s extraordinary contributions to bringing the dinosaurs to life and

educating the masses on the history of dinosaurs.