Thank you to Riley Black, St. Martin's Press, and Netgalley for this mighty arc 🦖✨


Riley has crafted something special here. She skillfully crafts a narrative that will appeal to a large audience while integrating her scientific know how. From one paleontologist to another, thank you for giving the world this book.

As a paleontologist myself, I always look forward to Riley's works. Snaggletooth is my favorite Tyrannosaurus rex (this is coming from a paleontologist who unabashedly does not care to study tyrannosaurs). By using Snaggletooth as a communication device, Black demonstrates the number one part of Paleontology: everything is a puzzle. All of paleontology is a puzzle! Not just putting the bones in fossils back together, but the field itself. These creatures are no longer alive. We can't see them interact with their environments.

Riley has written in a way that may seem bizarre to some, but it is a very normal practice within the field. Sometimes we have to personify these creatures to decode the clues they have left for us in the rock. Sometimes you have to ask yourself, "if I'm a hungry theropod, why would I be hunting here instead of a more accessible place?" if you find tracks in an unexpected area.

Give this a read. Don't expect to have scientific information hammered into you every moment. Paleo involves lots of creative thinking. I once taped fake claws to my shoes to test something, and that data ended up being published in a huge academic journal! What I'm saying is embrace Snaggletooth's journey, and remember that dinosaurs were living animals with lives! 🦖

- Bethany Burke Franklin
Vertebrate Paleontologist & Paleopathologist

5 stars ✨✨✨✨✨🦖

This new book by Riley Black did not disappoint. It is popular science with accessible language that takes you on a journey through a female T-Rex's life adding in lots of biological details along the way. It is detailed and in depth while also being easy to read. I enjoyed this book very much, and would also recommend it as a great book to gift to someone with a love of science and / or dinosaurs. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.