Tag Archives: dinosaurs

Sep5

Pink – Margaret Wild & Judith Rossell

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Harper Collins

July 2020

  • ISBN: 9781460757499
  • ISBN 10: 1460757491
  • Imprint: HarperCollins – AU
  • List Price: 24.99 AUD

It’s not easy to be different especially for small people and often the feelings of exclusion are very overwhelming. This gorgeous picture book illustrates perfectly that being different is OK and will empower young readers to not only accept but embrace their differences.

For little Pink being a different colour to all the other dinosaurs seems an almost insurmountable problem and one which makes her despair. It’s certainly no fun when you try to play hide-and-seek with your brown, green or grey peers and you stand out like a beacon. She certainly doesn’t feel brave and strong as her mother encourages her to be.

But when Pink tags after all the other juvenile dinosaurs and they become lost, the little dinosaur finds that not only can she be brave but her very difference can be a salvation.

This is a truly delightful book – as one would expect from two such talented creators- and both text and vibrant illustrations will not only fully engage little readers but enable them to their own self-acceptance.

Highly recommended for small peeps from around 3 years upwards.

Teaching notes

Mar1

Dippy and the Dinosaurs (Dippy the Diprotodon, #2) – Jackie French & Bruce Whatley. Concept by Ben Smith Whatley.

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y648 (3)

Harper Collins Australia

February 2020

ISBN: 9781460754092

ISBN 10: 1460754093

RRP 24.99 AUD

We’ve all been in love with Jackie’s wombats for years and now she and Bruce Whatley have provided us with another fabulous ‘wombat’ character to cherish.  Dippy made his first appearance last year and thoroughly delighted all his young readers. This BIG boisterous and happy diprotodont like his modern counterpart is uniquely Australian and eminently loveable.

Dippy’s new adventure follows his digging of a big hole – in fact a huge hole! – which serves as a super slide into a whole new landscape filled with strange and wonderful gigantic animals. Australia’s megafauna shows off in all its fascinating wonder as Dippy plays and flies and swims with his new friends. And just as all young ‘uns need to after such exuberance a refreshing rest is required by this young and curious creature.

Described as ‘deceptively simple’ this does indeed provide a portal to adventure and confidence for any little human.

Highly recommended for littlies from around 2 years upwards.

Feb14

Plenty of Peppa!

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Penguin Random House Australia

More for the Peppa Pig fans coming your way! The Pig family and their happy adventures are the stuff little people’s dreams are made of really so it’s just as well the books just keep on coming to complement the television show.

George and the Dinosaur

9780241392478

January 2020

ISBN: 9780241392478

Imprint: Ladybird

RRP: $14.99

If you put together the Pig family and dinosaurs you’re bound to be on a winner! George Pig and his little friends are all fossil mad so it’s a really exciting outing when Peppa, George and Mummy Pig plus George’s friends all get to go on a beach exploration with Miss Rabbit the Fossil Hunter.

Miss Rabbit (think Mary Anning!) really knows her stuff when it comes to fossils of all kinds, not to mention dinosaurs and she’s pretty impressed with George’s friend Edmond and his knowledge as well.

While Peppa gets a bit discouraged not finding anything and turns to building a sandcastle, George finds a huge rock with mysterious promise.

Imagine the wild delight when the rock is taken to the museum, split open to reveal a complete dinosaur skeleton!

Peppa Pig: Super Peppa!

9780241411971

March 2020

ISBN: 9780241411971

Imprint: Ladybird

RRP: $14.99

Dinosaurs on one cover and a glittery sparkly rainbow on another – way to get those little ones grabbing a book off the shelf!

Peppa and her classmates are most excited to be doing some school work solely focused on them but when Miss Gazelle asks them to come in costume as their dream occupation of the future, Peppa is at a loss to think what she could be. After all, she’s not really super at anything is she?

But when she gets down to things asking her adult friends and her parents, she takes Mummy Pig’s advice about believing in herself to heart and discovers that she’s super at all kinds of things.

And when George starts playing with his Super Tato toy (yes I have one too!) Peppa is struck with inspiration for her costume.

Peppa Pig:  [the] Easter Bunny

9780241411827

March 2020

ISBN: 9780241411827

Imprint: Ladybird

Format: Board Book

RRP: $9.99

And not forgetting the littlest fans of all here’s a new board book to add to their collection.

Peppa and George decide they want to have a surprise Easter Egg Hunt for their friends and ask Daddy Pig for help. As always, Daddy is great at putting together costumes and soon the dress-up box has provided the wherewithal to transform Peppa into an Easter Bunny and George into an Easter Chick.

When the little friends come over the egg hunt they are mightily surprised when the Easter Bunny and Chick pop out of the garden!

Another really cute little book to share with the tiniest of your lap-sitters.

All three are bound to sure-fire hits with your young readers.

Jun2

Animasaurus – Tracey Turner, illustrated by Harriet Russell

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animasaurus

Bloomsbury UK

Imprint: Bloomsbury Child

ISBN 9781408884850

RRP:  $26.99

Did you know:
A shark as long as a bus roamed the oceans?
Hamsters with horns once burrowed the Earth?
Giant armadillos grew to the size of a family car? 

Oh yes, this very much satisfies my love of engaging information books for children!  Explore the world of ancient giant beasts as you’ve never done before with each one compared with its modern counterpart.

Have you ever heard of the Titanic Snake? No? I’m sure you do know the green anaconda though.  What about the Therizinosaurus, which once roamed the Mongolian plains with its claws that were almost a metre long? Compare this with the cassowary, which has some of the longest claws in the modern animal world.

Full of fascinating facts, startling statistics and intriguing illustrations this will be a treasure trove for boys and girls aged from around eight years up – especially those lovers of ferocious beasts!

Highly recommended for primary readers with a passion for the weird and wonderful.

Dec19

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Return of the Dinosaurs _- Bronwyn Houston

Magabala Books

November 2016

ISBN:9781925360370

RRP $17.99

Over the years as a teacher-librarian I’ve probably lost count of the number of dinosaur books, both factual and fictional, I’ve seen or read or bought or circulated. This is the first one I have ever seen which incorporates an awareness of First Australian culture as Bronwyn Houston imagines what might happen if the dinosaurs returned to Broome.

The vibrant illustrations and simple but amusing text will appeal to young children, both boys and girls, and would lead to many discussions around country and time for all.

Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m a huge supporter of Magabala Books and that the importance of teaching the children in our classrooms or libraries the respect and reverence for the history of our First People is dear to my heart.

Explore the Kimberley vicariously with your readers in the new year and make sure you put this book on your ‘to buy’ list. You will not be disappointed I know.return_of_the_dinosaurs_high_res_

Aug26

Dinosaur Disco – Deborah Kelly

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9780857981363

ISBN: 9780857981363

Published: 01/10/2015

Imprint: Random House Australia Children’s

Extent: 32 pages

Really we can never get enough of dinosaurs! Boys or girls, fiction or nonfiction, surely they must be one of the most eternally popular choices for kids’ books.

In our house this is most definitely true and we loved the crazy dinos shaking their booties and the boards on the disco floor. Lots of rhythm and rhyme and onomatopoeia abound as the dinosaurs salsa, moonwalk and even crump it up.  With so many different types of dinosaurs strutting their stuff the floor starts to really rumble but the very ground shakes with the arrival of a gate crashing T-Rex! Let’s hope he isn’t looking for supper!

The text also cleverly integrates some of those rather pesky long dinosaur names and luckily there is also a pronunciation guide for those of us who are not as able as five year olds to get our tongues around them.   To follow up the story some strange but true facts are also included making this book not only fun but educational.

Daron Parton’s illustrations of the decoratively dressed dinosaurs lend even more quirkiness to the story.

This is bound to be a favourite with many young readers and I’m sure there could be many impromptu disco sessions in your library after a reading.

Highly recommended for boys and girls aged around 3 to 8 years.

Nov23

Ten Terrible Dinosaurs – Paul Stickland

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ten terrible dino cover V2

Random House Australia

ISBN: 9780552572514

Published: 03/11/2014

Imprint: Picture Corgi

Extent: 48 pages

$14.99

The most extraordinary thing about this book – which is great! – is that when I first read it, my immediate reaction was that it was almost identical in its text as one I created for a maths resource when I was at uni doing my teacher’s degree!

Mine was pretty dodgy with cut out ‘lift the flaps’ of dinosaur wrapping paper images to hide the subtraction algorithm but it was quite astonishing how closely Paul Stickland’s writing and mine coincided! Perhaps I have missed my calling after all!

All that aside, this a fun book in the Dinosaur Roar series, which are not only fun reads but teaching tools as well. A story of diminishing numbers from 10 to 1 accompanied by wonderfully colourful illustrations of extremely expressive dinosaurs which Small and I very much enjoyed last night.

If you are looking for some new maths/literature resources for next year, this might well be a good choice for your Preps.

Check out Paul Stickland’s website and the Dinosaurs Roar website.

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