Brown, Charlotte Lewis

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Brown, Charlotte Lewis

Personal

Female. Education: Ph.D. (paleontology).

Addresses

Home and office—Seattle, WA.

Career

Author. Former instructor in paleontology.

Writings

After the Dinosaurs: Mammoths and Fossil Mammals, illustrated by Phil Wilson, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2006.

The Day the Dinosaurs Died, illustrated by Phil Wilson, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2006.

Beyond the Dinosaurs: Monsters of the Air and Sea, illustrated by Phil Wilson, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2007.

Sidelights

Trained as a paleontologist, Charlotte Lewis Brown provides young readers with a factual and scientific look at the prehistoric age and its creatures in her books After the Dinosaurs: Mammoths and Fossil Mammals, The Day the Dinosaurs Died, and Beyond the Dinosaurs: Monsters of the Air and Sea. In After the Dinosaurs she introduces ten creatures that survived the dinosaurs, including the wooly mammoth, saber tooth tiger, and homo sapiens. Brown makes prehistoric information understandable to young children by associating the antiquated animals to the creature which has evolved from it and lives on Earth today. In one example, she compares an extinct creature to a modern species: a small dog. A Kirkus Reviews critic praised Brown for presenting "straightforward information" on mammals and fossil animals "in an interesting and accessible package for developing readers."

In The Day the Dinosaurs Died Brown takes a more-graphic approach in educating children on how Earth's dinosaur population actually became extinct. She describes how the giant asteroid crashed into the planet, altering Earth's environment and ultimately extinguishing the giant creatures. Danielle J. Ford, writing in Horn Book, cautioned that The Day the Dinosaurs Died "may not be for the squeamish," but noted that Brown's take on prehistory is "gruesome—yet factually accurate and realistic." In addition to the realistic graphics and details, Brown includes a pronunciation guide to aid readers in tackling dinosaurs names as well as an appended author's note.

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Horn Book, July-August, 2006, Danielle J. Ford, review of The Day the Dinosaurs Died, p. 460.

Kirkus Reviews, May 15, 2006, review of The Day the Dinosaurs Died, p. 514; August 15, 2006, review of After the Dinosaurs: Mammoths and Fossil Mammals, p. 836.

School Library Journal, June, 2006, Lynda Ritterman, review of The Day the Dinosaurs Died, p. 132; February, 2007, Christine Markley, review of After the Dinosaurs, p. 105.