There's a Dinosaur In My Bathtub by Catalina Echeverri

Rating 5 out of 5

Title: There's a Dinosaur in my Bathtub

Author: Catalina Echeverri

Publisher: Bloomsbury Childrens (February 13, 2014)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1408839393

ISBN-13: 978-1408839393
Reading Age: 2-7

Love, love, loved this book. This is a must for any dinosaur fanatic, children with imaginary friends, or who has a vivid imagination. It is good for boys or girls.

Amelia is a little girl with a very special friend Pierre the French dinosaur who is very good at hiding. The two have adventures all summer long until the weather turns cold, and he has to go away.

 Master 4 loves this story, and I love the story too. If you asked me to say precisely why I probably couldn't say. Everything about this picture book just works for me.  It is just such a beautiful and fun story with dinosaurs!! I have no problems reading this story over and over and over again.

The whimsical, quirky art work really brings the story alive. There is magical element to the story and the art work. each page is a delight as we follow Amelia and Pierre on their adventures.

The story flows easily so makes reading it out loud a delight.

Interestingly the author also illustrates the book and is from Bogota Columbia, but is currently residing in the UK. She has written and illustrated other children's books which I am now keen to get my hands on.

Just everything about this book we adore and it is a firm favourite here. Probably one of the best birthday presents Master 4 has gotten from his book loving Nana.

Drumheller Dinosaur Dance by Robert Heidbreder

Rating: 4 out of 5

Age Range: 3 - 7 years

Paperback: 32 pages

Publisher: Kids Can Press (August 1, 2006)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1553379829

ISBN-13: 978-1553379829

Another Bookaboo winner for us (if you haven't guessed by now we love this show. I only recently figured out watching the book being read totally counts as reading lol).

In short this book is about Dinosaur bones coming alive and dancing in the moonlight! Not just any dinosaur bones but Drumheller ones.

So for geeks out there or the science minded, Drumheller is a famous location in Alberta Canada for Dinosaur bones. They have discovered many species there and it has a very good museum there as well which one day I hope to get too.

The story has lots of rhyming and rhythm that is easy to groove too. It has a spooky sort of flow to it but not scary. Kids can easily get involved with it.

We really enjoyed it and Fefe Dobson who read it on Bookaboo was fantastic. A fun book for kids who are a little dinosaur crazy.

How Do Dinosaurs Learn Colours and Numbers? by Jane Yolen

Rating: 4 out of 5
Reading Age: 1 and up
Paperback: 32 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books; Bind-up ed edition (January 3, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0007244738
ISBN-13: 978-0007244737

The "How do dinosaurs....." series by Jane Yolan covers some tricky toddler behaviours and basic learning skills. This book is actually a two for one we got from the library. It covers numbers and colours.

The story is simple and basic. With lots of rhyming and funny dinosaurs illustrating each point. The illustrations are really quite funny and detailed. Mark Teague has done a wonderful job bringing the dinosaurs and story to life.

It is easy to see why these books are a hit with children.

"Dinosaur counting

Starts with one.

One tattered teddy bear

just for fun."

This is a great joy to read out loud for adults and kids. It could even be an early reader for children.

Finally the biggest selling point of this book is that it was able to stop a brewing toddler tantrum in it's tracks. My little guy was having an epic sulk, building up to a tantrum and I whipped out this book (which we had just gotten from the library) and just started reading loudly, while holding the book out so he could see the pictures. Ever so slowly he crept over to me and by the end of the book was sitting quietly by my side and said "read dinosaurs again". My reply, feigning innocence, "ooookkkkkaaayyy encore performance it is, but only if you insist". After the second round me reading aloud, he then asked for the book. He then proceeded to sit there turning the pages himself and pointing out the rainbow, trucks and train. We went from tantrum to quietly reading in approximately 10 minutes. WINNING. So a big thumbs up from a grumpy 2 and half year old toddler, and his mummy. Doesn't get better then that really.

A must for dinosaur obsessed toddlers.

Book Brief

• Rhyming
• Counting 1-10
• Colours
• Humor
• Dinosaurs

Rex Riders by J.P Carlson

Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Reading level: Ages 12 and up
Hardcover: 440 pages
Publisher: Monstrosities Books (June 21, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0982579632
ISBN-13: 978-0982579633

This book was an advanced reader copy obtained through the Library Thing website reviewers program.

“When 14-year-old Zeke Calhoun goes to live at his Uncle Jesse's broken-down ranch in Texas, he discovers that he has a natural way with horses and loves to ride. But this is nothing compared to what he finds in a riverbed near the ranch: a mysterious stranger, riddled with bullets, lying face down in the dirt, and a juvenile T-Rex keeping a pack of hungry wolves at bay. Where did the stranger come from? Who shot him and why? While Zeke saves the stranger and sets out to answer these questions, he finds something much more interesting--a bridle in the dinosaur's mouth. From that moment on he knows he is destined to ride the T-Rex. What he does not know, however, is that his actions will set off a chain of events plunging him into an incredible adventure, one that will lead to the discovery of a deadly alliance between Earth and a prehistoric world that could threaten the very fabric of both “

Welcome to the Wild West but not as we know it.

Initial First Impressions
To start with the story was a little slow and choppy. It bounced back and forth between various character point of views trying to set the scene and tell the story. To be honest it got distracting and annoying. But it settled down and then the story flowed easier I then found myself rather enjoying the book. This book is a blend of westerns, sci-fi, and teen angst. I am not normally drawn to or read either of the Western or Sc-Fi genre and I have no idea why this sparked my interest when it became available as an advance reader copy, it just did. I am glad I read it even though it took me a month (eep, to be fair this was not the books fault but my fault for not being able to find time. These days life is busy, busy, busy!).

Characters
There are a lot of characters but I guess the main three would be Zeke, Uncle Jesse and Angelina. They were believable but a smidgeon stereotypical of western movies. However, Angelina was not, and was quite an interesting character with strong morals, a little bit of spunk, and intelligence.

Stumpy the cook was perhaps my most favorite character to read and he brought a lot of humor to the book. He was the wise, gentle old man who sort of played negotiator between Uncle Jesse and Zeke.

The bad guy D’allsandro was a fairly decent bad guy. On the scale of baddies one to ten he would be about a six. He was more of an oily snake kind of character then an out right pure evil type of character. He did have a “moment” toward the end of the book, but that was again more of an arrogance moment then pure evil bastard moment.

Story
The story was good and interesting. The blending of the western genre and sci-fi (the dinosaurs) was an interesting twist. Other then the choppy point of view and the slow start, the story actually moved at a fairly fast pace with lots of action and excitement.

This is classic pulp fiction. If you are not a fun of the pulp fiction style of writing then it is probably best to stay away from this book. Otherwise it is a fun story .

I really enjoyed the concept of this book. What if humans and dinosaurs had co-existed? Could we have domesticated them? Could we have used them as working animals? How would civilization look with domesticated t-rex’s rather then dogs?

What I didn’t Like
Well the constant jumping from point of views. It seemed really random and sometimes right in the middle of paragraph for about the space of a line. But this is more of a personal I thing. I really hate it when the point of view jumps around so much, for me it is distracting and often I just don’t see the point of knowing what a minor character is thinking when it is obvious (ie the baddie’s henchman not liking one of the main characters, the fact that he always tries to hit,shoot, belittle and bully the main character kinda gives it away that they don’t like each other).

I am not entirely sure how accurate the Professor character was.While fossils had been discovered and collected before 1800’s the first dinosaur wasn’t named till the mid 1800’s. Also given that information took a lot longer to filter around the world back then, depending on his academic base it would be hard for him to be up to date with the latest discoveries. So in short I am not sure if he would have been able to accurately identify the majority of the dinosaurs they discovered, at least not with the terms we know now. This is really a small quibble to be honest as I understand the need for a little suspension of belief to make it easier for today’s readers to understand. Also he would have been forever explaining dinosaurs. But on further thought having the paleontologist making up names could have been a fun experience.

In short
This book was fun. It is not a serious book at all; it’s light, fluffy and campy. I was not the target audience which really would be the teen male market from 13-18 (depending on likes and reading ability), and have seen a few reviews from younger readers who loved this book. Do not take it seriously and you should enjoy it. As for the target group; what teenage boy wouldn’t like this book with cowboys, cool sci-fi devices, Dinosaurs, and action?

To read an excerpt go to Rex Riders

The Dance of the Dinosaurs by Colin and Jacqui Hawkins

Rating: 4 out of 5
Paperback: 32 pages
Publisher: HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks (4 Nov 2002)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0007114443
ISBN-13: 978-0007114443
Product Dimensions: 25.8 x 22.8 x 0.6 cm
Recommended Ages: 3-6

First Sentence: "Lightening flashed, on a wild and stormy night and Georgie and Dee shivered in fright".

It's a dark and thundery night and Georgie and Dee could not sleep. Their cat, trying to show them there is nothing to fear of thunder storms, takes them on a magical journey to a land where Dinosaurs roam, and party creating thunder!

A lovely bedtime story for children about Dinosaurs who dance and make thunder. The story uses rhyming couplets that make it fun and easy to follow. The rhythm is good and the pacing just right for reading aloud. There is also opportunity for the reader to interject noises, such as loud roars, which makes the story more interesting to the child listening.

The illustrations are bright and colourful, filling most of the page. The animals are in cartoon form with big round eyes, and large smiley mouths. This makes them non threatening and very cute.

A delightful book with a lovely message of there being no need to fear thunderstorms. Because it is just Dinosaurs having some fun and dancing the night away. Is a perfect book to read at bedtime.