October 11, 2010

Dinosaurs! How to Raise a Dinosaur

I love being a mom of girls. I love the tea parties, dress up, baby dolls, and all-things-princess. But that means I've missed out on the superheroes, racing cars, trucks and dinosaurs. So we're doing dinosaurs this week, starting with a wonderful new book...

How to Raise a Dinosaur by Natasha Wing

How to Raise a DinosaurThis one is fresh off the presses! When author Natasha Wing contacted me to review a copy of her latest book, I jumped at the chance. It looked adorable, but I had no idea it would be this adorable. As the title suggests, it's a guidebook for the proper care and feeding of a pet dinosaur. What type of dinosaur is right for you? How often do dinosaurs need to be walked? What supplies do you need to raise a dinosaur? Natasha Wing answers these questions and more in this fresh take on the classic lift-the-flap book.

Pablo Bernasconi's illustrations add just the right touch of levity to Wing's tongue-in-cheek narration. Nearly each page contains one (or several) clever flaps for kids to lift and discover delightful surprises. For example, on E's favorite page you fold back the picture of Rex to reveal an x-ray of his body and a drawing of his tiny brain (the exact size and shape of a peanut). She also got a huge kick out of the bite-mark die cuts on several of the pages.

Whether or not your child is a dinosaur fanatic, you're both sure to enjoy this new addition to the genre. The humor is sophisticated enough to delight parents while simple enough for 4 year olds to "get." I can't wait to read it to E's kindergarten class!

MYO Paper Dinos


To go along with the book, I found these great dinosaur printables. I let the girls color the dinosaur and then we cut them out to make these 3D paper dinosaurs.


E's rainbow Triceratops is my favorite.


A did an excellent job coloring outside the lines, leaving her elasmosaurus nearly pristine.


The website has over 20 dinosaur printables, so if your child has a favorite variety, there's a good chance it's there!

Disclaimer: How to Raise a Dinosaur was provided to me courtesy of Running Press free of charge in exchange for a review. This does not in any way influence my review.

10 comments:

  1. Thanks SO much for sharing the dinosaur printables! Kerri

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  2. If only Fancy Nancy had a dinosaur! But, this book looks very cute, too.

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  3. That would be awesome if there was a Fancy Nancy book about dinosaurs :)

    When I first saw the title of the link, I thought maybe it was for a different set of dinosaur books. Our son was given "How do Dinosaurs Clean their Rooms?" and there's a whole series of fun books along those lines...like "How do Dinosaurs Get Well?" and "How do Dinosaurs Play with their Friends?" They're all cute.

    Our library doesn't have this book, but those printables will be awesome to use later.

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  4. Thanks for the great review and the link to the cut-out dinosaurs. I'm going to print some up for my next book signing. Also, Jane O'Connor is my editor for The Night Before series. I'll mention she should do a Fancy Nancy with a dinosaur. Who knows?

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  5. WE are really enjoying our copy too. It is such a cute book. Those dinosaurs are great.

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  6. Cute! I was a HUGE fan of dinosaurs when I was little, I'll save a link for when my baby daughter is older!

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  7. Those dinosaur printables are really cute - thanks for the link! The book sounds neat, too.

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  8. I loved dinosaurs when I was young, so this will be fantastic to introduce when Boo is a little older. Thank you.

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  9. I know my son would like a guidebook on how to care for a dinosaur. After reading the book "Chalk" he tried his hardest to bring one to life like in the book. She long as the dinosaurs aren't too scary my daughter enjoys books about them, too. Excellent job with the paper dinos!

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  10. This is a lesson I will squirrel away for my now 3 yr old. He would LOVE it!

    Blessings,

    Val

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