This post, is also partially inspired by my lovely blogging friend, Raimy from Readaraptor. Raimy absolutely adores dinosaurs and we were talking once on Twitter about how my youngest is going through a phase where he loves all things dinosaur. I thought it might be fun today to share with you all a small portion of his collection of dinosaur picture books (just the ones I could find easily, there are more!).
Trouble at the Dinosaur Cafe by Brian Moses and Garry Parsons - I believe this is the most recent dinosaur book picked up for our collection. In it, dinosaurs are peaceful and happy sitting in the dinosaur cafe, when along comes the biggest and baddest bully dinosaur - Tyrannosaurus Rex yelling about eating you and you and YOU. Luckily, a brave Stegosaurus (my favourite) is only a phone call away... Littlest in particular loves the idea of being attacked by a fierce dinosaur. Especially if voices are raised and the photo looks vaguely scary.
Dinosaurs Love Underpants by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort - What is it about the word 'underpants' that just sends my two boys into hysterics? The idea of dinosaurs in underpants makes them laugh like crazy. I'm not always fond of rhyming text in picture books, because the story usually builds towards the end, picking up the pace that the story is read aloud and when that happens I always find the rhymes harder to manage. But this one is still great fun with all of the silly illustrations of dinosaurs battling over the last scraps of pants.
Say Hello to the Dinosaurs by Ian Whybrow and Tim Warnes - I really love when picture books are interactive like this, even when my two boys fight over who is going to touch the dinosaur scales FIRST on each page. It's quite the little power struggle between the two. But also, as we are introduced in this simple little story of different dinosaurs, I always get my Littlest to actually wave and attempt to say 'hello' for each page. At the back of the book, there's also a little quiz to match up the dinosaurs with the sounds they each make that is quite satisfying for my Eldest. Fun for the whole family!
Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs by Ian Whybrow and Adrian Reynolds - We managed to find an entire collection of the Bucketful of Dinosaur books awhile back, perhaps through the Book People? Either way, my Eldest loves these books. I remember reading the one where Harry goes to school for the first time again and again before Eldest went for his first day. He seemed to like the idea that Harry felt just as uncomfortable as I think Eldest was feeling. Plus, he likes how Harry and his sister Sam always seem to be bicker in some way and that most stories feature his Nan. That's something that Eldest and Harry seem to have in common aside from dinosaurs - they both love their Nan.
How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague - This is an old favourite. In the same series, we also have How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food, Get Well Soon, Learn Their Colours and Count To Ten. We're pretty big on this series! But the favourite, for me anyway, is How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? It's the perfect bed time story, very sweet and gentle and we've read it a million times before bed.
And now that we've established this intense love for dinosaur books, do you have any suggestions for what else to pick up? Perhaps a chapter book for a 5 and a half year old that we could read together?
