Category

Dinosaurs

The Hugasaurus
by Rachel Bright & Chris Chatterton

Have you read The Hugasaurus yet? It’s the latest story in the ‘DinoFeelings’ series from Rachel Bright and Chris Chatterton and we love it! Whereas book one – The Worrysaurus – focused on anxiety and worries, this one is all about the importance of kindness.

Little Hugasaurus is a very happy dinosaur. She’s off on her very first adventure away from home and she’s looking forward to having fun and making new friends. When she arrives at her destination she is greeted by a group of friendly dinos and after some short introductions they quickly get down to the serious business of playing and laughing. They skip and climb in the sunshine but eventually the inevitable happens…

Two of the dinosaurs start to squabble in the middle of a game of hide and seek and soon everyone is yelling and shouting. Insults are thrown, feet are stomped and backs are turned. Poor little Hugasaurus doesn’t know what to do. How can she stop all the unnecessary fighting and get everyone playing harmoniously again?

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Doctorsaurus
by Emi-Lou May & Leire Martín

When Triceratops damages her horn at a dinosaur picnic her friends know exactly who to call – Doctorsaurus!

Armed with her doctor’s bag and some extra-sticky plaster, the lovely doctor fixes the problem in a jiffy, but soon she has lots of new patients to see. Stegosaurus has a splinter, T-Rex has a blocked nose and Brontosaurus has a big, bloaty tummy. Doctorsaurus doesn’t bat an eyelid as she deals with green goo, snotty slime and some rather icky smells and before they know it all the dinosaurs feel well enough to celebrate.

But as they tuck into their picnic, Doctorsaurus hears an almighty rumbling and yells ‘Emergency!’. It looks like those prunes she prescribed Brontosaurus might be about to take effect…

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Dinosaurs in Love
by Fenn Rosenthal & Hannah Jacobs

Are you one of the two million people who have listened to tiny Fenn Rosenthal sing ‘Dinosaurs in Love‘ on YouTube? If not then you MUST because it’s utterly adorable.

Fenn was just three and a half when she freestyled the song with her Dad, musician Tom Rosenthal, and the results were surprisingly profound. The lyrics have now been made into a picture book and it’s fair to say that Ivy is obsessed.

The story gives us a toddler’s take on what happened to the dinosaurs, with a little romantic spin. In a nutshell – they eat some people, have a party, fall in love and then die. The end.

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Dinosaur Party
by Fiona Munro & Rachael McLean

This sparkly board book from Pat-a-Cake is perfect for helping toddlers develop fine motor skills, especially those who love dinosaurs!

Panda and Penguin are off on an adventure. They need to get to Dinosaur Town in time for a party but they have a long way to go. They huff and puff their way up a steep hill and over a spiky track – but when they get to the top they discover a great big grinning dinosaur face. It turns out they haven’t been climbing a hill at all, instead they have scaled the back of a giant dinosaur! Fortunately he’s very friendly – perhaps he will offer them a lift to the party on his back?

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Tiny T. Rex and the Impossible Hug by Jonathan Stutzman & Jay Fleck

Tiny T. Rex has a big heart but he has very small arms. This isn’t usually a problem, until one day Tiny sees that his friend Pointy is feeling sad and needs some cheering up. Tiny knows that the best thing to do is to give his friend a great big hug, but his teensy little arms won’t let him!

Determined to find a solution to his hugging problem, Tiny turns to his family for advice. Each of them offers up some wisdom, but nothing seems quite right until he speaks to his brother and sister. They tell him that if he wants to do something which everyone believes is impossible then he needs a plan and he needs to practise, practise, practise. Tiny takes their advice and we’re treated to a wonderful montage of him getting fit and attempting to hug all manner of objects (including a flower, an ice cream and cactus!).

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My Pet T-Rex by Fabi Santiago

The T-Rex is Ivy’s favourite kind of dinosaur so she squealed with excitement when she spotted the cover of this book! Set in prehistoric times, the story follows a little girl called Kiki as she learns to look after her new pet T-Rex, Petunia.

At first it seems like having a dino will be easy – but Kiki soon learns that a pet is a big responsibility. Petunia needs to be washed, fed and exercised, plus she needs lots of sleep and visits to the vet. Just when Kiki thinks it might be a little bit too much, Petunia gets lost!

Wil Kiki be able to find her and if she does, will she want to keep her?

If your child is hankering for a pet then this is the perfect book to help them understand how much work they can be. It highlights all aspects of pet care and also teaches that you can’t just give them back if you don’t want to put in the effort anymore.

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Let’s Find The Dinosaur by Alex Willmore

These days Ivy takes great care with her books, particularly the interactive ones, but when she was tiny she took great pleasure in pulling off the flaps and chewing on them. That’s why I think the new generation of chunky board books with felt flaps are a bit of a revelation!  This one is particularly charming and features lots of super cute dinosaurs for your little ones to find.

The aim is to follow the clues, peep through the cut out sections and lift the textured felt flaps to locate the T-Rex. Along the way we meet a whole host of other dinosaur characters who share some of the T-Rex’s features. The sharp teeth poking out from behind the volcano actually belong to a Pterodactyl. The scaly head hidden behind a bush looks promising but turns out to be a Triceratops. And the swishy tail behind the trees? That’s just a Diplodocus. Where could that cheeky T-Rex be?

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The Worrysaurus
by Rachel Bright & Chris Chatterton

If you’ve been following Ivy’s Library for a while you’ll know I’m really passionate about books which help small children to understand and verbalise their feelings. I’m also a huge fan of author Rachel Bright, so when The Worrysaurus landed on our doorstep I was really excited. Ivy was instantly entranced by the title character – an adorable little red dinosaur with a tiny green backpack – and demanded we read it right away!

The Worrysaurus is a planner and a worrier (to be honest, he’s a lot like me!). When he decides to go on a picnic he organises it all in his advance. He plans out a route, he packs all of the things he might need in to his trusty bag and then he heads out in to the sunshine.

However it’s not long before his brain starts to itch. What if he didn’t pack enough to drink? What if he gets lost on the way? Slowly his happy mood starts to slip away and anxiety creeps in. When a little lizard warns him that there might be a storm poor Worrysaurus starts to panic. He’s not prepared for rain!

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Nope. Never. Not For Me! by Samantha Cotterill

Ivy is an extremely picky eater so I like to keep an eye out for books which might encourage her to expand her tastes a little. Results are generally a bit hit and miss but we have had some success with this one so I wanted to share it with you.

The child in the story loves dinosaurs but absolutely does not like broccoli! She refuses to try it or even touch it because she thinks it looks yucky. But mum steps in with a thought which makes her think twice. She cleverly points out that broccoli looks like tiny trees and dinosaurs like to eat trees…

The girl (who is dressed in a dinosaur costume) asks if her toy dinosaur can try it first – and together they take baby steps towards a first mouthful of broccoli.

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Bumpus Jumpus Dinosaurumpus By Tony Mitton & Guy Parker-Rees

Bumpus Jumpus DinosaurumpusIf you have a child who rejects story time because they don’t like to sit still then Bumpus Jumpus Dinosaurumpus might be the book that you’re looking for. The infectious rhyme encourages your child to dance around and I defy anyone to read this aloud without wiggling a little themselves!

The story introduces you to a whole host of dinosaurs as they take part in a Dinosaurumpus – a noisy, bouncy and frankly bonkers celebration of who they are. They twizzle, spin, bomp and stomp together until they hear a giant roar. What on earth is making that scary noise and will it want to eat them up or just join in the fun?

We’ve read this one so many times that Ivy joins in with the ‘chorus’ and bangs the sofa like a drum in time with they way I read the rhyme. We started off just reciting it but these days it’s more like (extremely amateur!) performance art as I rap the lyrics (badly) and she bounces up and down and squeals with delight. It’s definitely not a bedtime book in our house!

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