A few of my Alaskan readers may have read this book at some point in their lives. It was published in 1988, and it's a kid's book about Alaska's prehistoric wildlife. Unfortunately, in 1988, there wasn't a whole lot of Mesozoic material known, so the author and illustrator were almost making it up as they went along. Such memorable creatures as "Hadrosaur" and Ceratops are contained within its pages, as Troodon, the only animal get a formal genus. So I want to update this book, write a spiritual sequel of sorts (and illustrate it) including all the dinosaurs (and other Mesozoic critters) currently known in Alaska. For the uninformed, this list includes:Dromaeosaurus (teeth), Troodon (teeth), Albertosaurus (teeth), ?Tyrannosaurus (teeth), Edmontosaurus (lots of skeletal material), Pachyrhinosaurus (partial skulls), Edmontonia (partial skull), Alaskacephale (partial skull cap), ?Anchiceratops (bits 'n' pieces of the skull), ?Thescelosaurus (bits 'n' pieces), ?Ornithomimidae (bits 'n' pieces), "Lizzie" the hadrosaur (partial skeleton), Megalneusaurus (humerus), Ichthyosauria (ribcage).
Nobody is publishing any of this material. That list was scraped together by asking Anne Pasch and scrounging through old papers referencing Alaskan material. I've actually seen the Edmontonia skull--it's basically the ventral side, and only the tooth row is visible, and a single preserved tooth identified the genus. Anyway, that would be a cool book. Thunderfeet does a great job of making itself accessable to both little kids (with rhyme) and older kids (with factoids), so that's the model I'm going to follow.
The second book has a clearer focus: it's all about ceratopsians! This book would follow a very strict format: On the left page would be the vital stats and a description of the genus illustrated on the facing (right) page. Because my goal is to compare the horned dinosaurs throughout their evolution, it would a portrait similar to the quickly-sketched one above (Triceratops horridus). I've got a pretty good potential species list, too. Let me know if I should add anybody:
Yinlong downsi, Psittacosaurus mongolensis, P. sibiricus, Liaoceratops yanzigouensis, Protoceratops andrewski, Leptoceratops gracilis, Montanoceratops cerorhynchos, Zuniceratops christopheri, Albertoceratops nesmoi, "Octoceratops" (assuming it's ever published), Centrosaurus apertus, C. brinkmani, Styracosaurus albertensis, Einiosaurus procurvicornis, Achelousaurus horneri, Pachyrhinosaurus lakustai, Anchiceratops ornatus, Arrhinoceratops brachyops, Ajungaceratops mariscalensis, Chasmosaurus belli, Pentaceratops sternbergi, Torosaurus utahensis, Nedoceratops hatcheri, Triceratops horridus.
Am I leaving anybody out? I also want to include growth series for those taxa with known growth series.
So those are my ideas. Comments? Questions?
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