'The best books, reviewed with insight and charm, but without compromise.'
- author Jackie French

Saturday 19 June 2010

Review: Dinosaur Dinosaur


Title: Dinosaur Dinosaur

Author: Matt Cosgrove

Illustrator: Matt Cosgrove

Publisher: Koala Books, $12.99 RRP

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9780864615589

For ages: 2 - 5

Type: Picture Book

About: For young children interested in dinosaurs this book is a fantastic introduction to them. Cosgrove has used colour and a series of questions (all in rhyme!) to show young children the wide variety of forms of dinosaurs that used to walk the earth.

The use of the flaps is wonderful. For instance, on one page there is a picture of a dinosaur eating a plant accompanied by the caption: “Dinosaur, dinosaur what do you eat? Do you like plants” and then the child turns the flap in the middle and hey, presto the picture changes and we see a dinosaur charging accompanied by the caption: “or do you like meat?”

The flaps allow the children to physically interact with the pages and also to see how different the dinosaurs could be. From herbivore to carnivore, from short to tall, from bumpy to smooth, Cosgrove looks at many aspects of dinosaurs in an easily accessible way.

It also ends with the unanswered question as to how these fearsome creatures were wiped out.

The use of simple rhyme and the showcasing of the diversity of the dinosaurs make for an engaging text. It is also an easy read for grown ups, and with a few repetitions children will learn it off by heart very quickly.

A must for any budding paleontologist!

- this review by Sarah Pietrzak

Buy this book online