Three books about dinosaurs that are big in imagination and heart!
Enter the Cretaceous Period (65 million years ago), with these three mighty books about dinosaurs, specifically the ferocious Tyrannosaurus Rex. There’s a tale for everyone that will have you laughing, smiling and going rawww and awwww!
The Tyrannosaurus Rex’s name comes from Greek and Latin words, meaning ‘Tyrant Lizard King’. It was huge, growing up to 6m tall and 12m long!
This king of dinosaurs had a set of 50 to 60 banana-sized teeth and could rip almost 100kg of flesh off their victims in a single chomp! The Tyrannosaurus Rex was super smart too, boasting a brain twice as big as those of the other giant carnivores.
Till now, scientists still can’t confirm what exactly wiped out the dinosaurs, and research by palaeontologists, ie dinosaur experts, continues.
Let’s read more about what could happen, if dinosaurs were still living today, in these three books about dinosaurs.
Most of us wouldn’t think about inviting a Tyrannosaurus Rex to our birthday party.
What if one shows up uninvited though and you feel compelled to let it in? Well, you better be really. Really. Careful.
This book about dinosaurs is one boy’s warning to other children. This T.Rex is used to getting his own way, so he wants to be the first to do everything.
He wants to be the first to swing a bat at the piñata, but his short fiddly arms make that impossible, making him stomp and roar until NO ONE gets to hit the piñata. When it is time to play pin-a-tail-on-the-dino, T. Rex needs to be reminded to stay far away from the board until his turn. He does not listen.
There are so many good reasons not to let a T.Rex crash your party. Sure, his short arms makes playing ANY game tough, but what is frustrating is how T. Rex acts like it is his party. He wants to open your presents, and play with your new toys. He even scares your guests away.
So, take this boy’s advice and be careful when drawing up your guest list. The start of the party is not as difficult when it comes to asking your guests to go home…
This is a funny story to discuss behaviours that are appropriate and how we can respond when frustrated or left out. I was holding my breath in anticipation of an unfortunate birthday meal, but the twist at the end made sense, dinosaurs considered!
Second choice on books about dinosaurs is about two hungry dinosaurs who jump into a time machine and are transported to RIGHT NOW.
The T. Rexes’ encounter the wonders (and confusions) of our modern world: Police cars! Phones! Microwaves! They don’t know how they’ll get home—but why would they want to, when food is plentiful here!
Pizza, tacos and noodles, plus handphones to order it all—the dinosaurs are in heaven. When the police show up with megaphones and demand the dinosaurs put their “tiny, baby hands in the air”, the two hurry through a doughnut festival and back to the time machine, only to realise that they don’t know how it works.
The vibrant images, speech bubbles and panelled artwork make reading this a laugh-out-loud adventure. My snack loving niece got especially excited whenever food makes an appearance, mirroring the dinosaurs’ delight as well.
Do these two dinosaurs eventually leave today’s glorious pizza-filled reality, or are there enough doughnuts to go around through the ages?
Nicholas is afraid of a lot of things. He wants to be as brave as his dad, but he needs help. With his toy dinosaur, Nicholas can scale tall walls, swim in deep water and even score a goal against the huge goalie everyone calls Gorilla. However, when the toy dinosaur goes missing, everything is scary again.
Luckily, his dad knows that even the bravest people can get scared, and asking for help to face your fears can make these less scary.
What I didn’t like is how the ending alludes to being brave as “guy stuff”. Still, as storytellers, we have absolute control over how we choose to tell a story, so make your own ending, such as weaving your child’s name or favourite toy to draw strength from!
We hope you have a roaring good time with these three books about dinosaurs. I was so inspired by these stories that I even made a dinosaur bento box after, which you can see on my Instagram.
What other dinosaurs are you familiar with? I’d love to add non-Tyrannosaurus Rexes to this book list. Email me if you know any good ones!
Featured books are suitable for children from 5 years and up.
All books featured are available in Singapore’s public libraries and in the bookshops linked.