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The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins by Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Brian

Selznick, Scholastic Press, $16.95, ISBN 0439114942

AS A dinosaur-mad youngster I saw the picture many times: 22 Victorian

gentlemen having dinner inside a giant lizard. But what exactly were they

doing?

This richly illustrated book tells the story of that dinner party and the man

who organised it, Waterhouse Hawkins. He was a sculptor employed to bring

prehistoric animals to life for the Great Exhibition of 1851. Working from

fragments of fossilised tooth and bone, he made life-sized models of iguanodons,

plesiosaurs and pterodactyls. They were a big hit.

But Hawkins wanted more than popular success. He wanted his ideas to be

accepted by science. So in 1853 he invited 21 eminent naturalists to dinner on

New Year’s Eve and, just to make sure they couldn’t miss his sculptures, he put

the table inside a hollowed-out model of an iguanodon. It was a great

success.

I’ll give this book to my dinosaur-mad nephew. I think he’ll enjoy it, but I

doubt it will become a favourite. Victorian images of dinosaurs might be

culturally interesting, but they’re not as exciting as modern ones. And while

Hawkins’s story is worth telling, it’s not gripping enough to return to time and

again.