"Forgotten Beasts" by Matt Sewell (Pavilion Children's Books)

There's something quite intriguing about long-extinct animals, and finding out more about them can be pretty tricky...
We've recently been taking part in the Twitter #AnimalAlphabets art challenges, which crop up weekly.

Through the current run of subjects, which are all about extinct animals we've wondered how we can find out more about Glyptodons or Megalodons, Ornimegalonyxes or Megatheriums.

If you're already shaking your head wondering what on earth we're going on about, you might want to pick up a copy of Matt Sewell's awesome new book "Forgotten Beasts" which gathers together a whole crop of incredible extinct creatures that actually really existed once.

It's a fantastic reference book and pays due homage to creatures who, for one reason or another, just evolved out of existence - sometimes many millions of years ago.

Some species became their more modern and successful counterparts, but others just faded from existence - only brought back to life through fossil records or imagined renderings.

Jaekelopterus. You really wouldn't want to get a pinch on the bum from one of these

Matt's fabulous watercolours help familiarise us with these amazing animals once again, with great descriptions of how they lived, and where. What they ate and why they may have died off.

The Short Faced Bear. Pretty fearsome, no?

It's a really brilliant book, a thoroughly original topic and one that gets away from the usual "Dinosaur" stuff, bringing things a little bit more up to date with a huge collection of amazing forgotten creatures that are every bit as fascinating as their scaly predecessors.

"Forgotten Beasts" by Matt Sewell is out now, published by Pavilion Children's Books (kindly supplied for review).