If I Had a Dinosaur, written by Gabby Dawnay and illustrated by Alex Barrow, is a fantastical look at owning a pretty bizarre pet. Our protagonist wakes up one day and ponders aloud what it would be like to have... a dinosaur! She wonders if it could learn tricks, like sitting and rolling over, or what people what say if she brought it to school with her. And, of course, how she would handle its poop!
Barrow is incredible at weaving Dawnay's rhyming text into the illustrations. Every page feels dynamic and energetic, encouraging readers to flip the book in different ways or shout certain words as they read along. And the best part? Many words are represented by illustrations! The rhyming text allows new readers to make those verbal connections as they read the book aloud: the text says that the girl "thought about a" with an image of a mouse, so saying the upcoming written word "house" becomes even more fun to say aloud. Of course, this also makes the book more fun to read with at least two people. One person takes the written words and the other takes the images, and bam, you have a fun two-person read aloud!
If I Had a Dinosaur published from Thames & Hudson yesterday, February 28, 2017! I highly recommend you run out and have a look.. Just don't get it give your kids any ideas...
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