Dinosaur Roar!

Rating:
Summary: A keeper!
Review: A wonderful way to learn about opposites and enjoy dinosaurs! This has been a favorite book of ours for the past two years. We recently moved to Germany and could only take a few things with us--this was one of the books we chose to take along. For over 1 1/2 years this was the only book my youngest son would sit still for and he still loves it. (Our five year-old enjoys "reading" it to him.)

Rating:
Summary: Dino-might
Review: Ah. The perpetual love youngsters have for dinosaurs. It's one of those constants on which we can all rely. No matter what goes on in the world, whether it be floods, famines, or the everyday trials of ordinary life, one thing is for certain. As long as there are children and as long as books about dinosaurs exist, the two will be perpetually and inexplicably linked. Now I've actually not read that many really interesting dinosaur books in my day. There's the obligatory, "How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?", by Jane Yolen and (of course) "Dinotopia", but for all the enjoyment these scaly reptiles engender, there are relatively few well-written preschool aged books about them. Enter "Dinosaur Roar!", stage right. The books admittedly fails to do some of the basic dinosaur book duties. It does not name each and every terrible lizard with its Latin moniker. Just the same, the book is a good early introduction into the world of reading. Kids interested in it will find themselves immersed in a dinosaur laden universe that fulfills all their dino-related needs. And adults will not be bored. Nuff said.

"Dinosaur Roar!" is best described as a book of dino opposites. In it, we see one dino doing one thing and a very different dino doing another. It begins with "Dinosaur roar, dinosaur squeak" and continues on another two pages with "dinosaur fierce, dinosaur meek". Different reptiles react in different ways. On some pages, sharp toothed gleeful fellows attempt to munch on their neighbors while on others, sweet faced tiny creatures flee, scurry, to do whatsoever the words on the page say. In the end, it all culminates with several pages worth of dinosaurs eating their favorite foods. The herbivores nosh on trees and leafy greens while the carnivores (for the sake of keeping the rating of this book a sweet G) gnaw on large white tendon-less bones as if they were just oversized dogs. The book shows a vast variety of different dinosaur species without skimping. It's an enjoyable thing to page through. Of course, the fact that none of these dinos are ever named really is a problem. If a child points to a picture of a feathered dinosaur and asks the parent what the name of it is, that adult may find themselves stumbling (was it aperdyterix or apordacturux or...?). "How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?", solved this problem by surreptitiously placing the names of each and every animal somewhere on the page that featured them, giving both adults AND their children a good scientific lesson. "Dinosaur Roar!"? Not so much.

Still, the pictures are pleasant to the eye. Paul Stickland uses a massive array of incredibly colorful watercolors to their greatest advantage here. Though the pictures do contain some elements of cartoons, they're also really lovely to look at. You have mucky greens, sly peach/purple/blues, pastels of pink and navy, and well-scaled oranges. Now the meateaters are a scary crew, true. But kids love that kind of stuff. As long as a book isn't showing a dinosaur literally tearing another one of its fellows into a bloody pulp then kids love the threat the massive t-rexes and velociraptors engender.

In the end, I probably would still recommend, "How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?" over "Dinosaur Roar!", but there's no reason in the world why you shouldn't take a good long look at the both of them. For most parents, even the most sloppily written piece of trash starts to look good as long as it contains a dino or two. Here, we have a well-written book with amazing artwork and a great use of rhyming words. There's little to dislike about this book and a whole lot to love. Be sure to check it out today.

Rating:
Summary: A terrific book for toddlers!
Review: As a mom of two boys-(ages 20 months and 32 months) this book has been a hit since the day I purchased it. The bright colored pictures and sounds of the dinosaurs really hold the interest of my children. Both of my children continue to request this book to be read to them again and again... As a parent, this has also been a great learning book about opposites,e.g.- dirty and clean, dinosaurs roar and squeak). A truly terrific book for young toddlers of 1 1/2 to 3 1/2 years of age.

Rating:
Summary: My 3 year old loved it -ROAR
Review: As soon as we got in the car we had to read it! My three year old has not put it down. The illustrations are wonderful. The rhyming is fun! GREAT GREAT GREAT

Rating:
Summary: We love these dinosaurs!
Review: At first I thought this book was too simple for my 3 year old daughter, but she can't get enough of it. She loves the cute dinosaurs and she loves to read along since she's memorized it. I like it for when I'm too tired to read a longer book and I love the illustrations.

Rating:
Summary: I LOVE this book.......oh, and so does my little boy!
Review: I absolutely LOVE this book. My son is 11 months old and his attention span is short, to say the least! This book is a quick, rhyming read with exceptional pictures. My son loves the colors and marvels at the different sized dinosaurs and the sing-song in my voice when I read this book. An absolute must!

Rating:
Summary: You have to get this book!
Review: I bought this book for my 4yo, but my 2yo enjoys it way more! She "reads" every page with us! And the voices she uses are great too!

Rating:
Summary: Fun book for little ones
Review: I bought this book for my three year old, who loved it and because of the short, rhyming text was able to learn it off by heart. It soon became a favourite with my one year old too, who would squeal in delight at the gorgeous colourful dinosaurs, particularly his favourite, "dinosaur slimy". I never get tired of reading this book with the boys. Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: Perfect at 2 and 3 years old.
Review: I can't speak for 4 year olds yet, but my 3 year old LOVES this book and he loved it when he was 2 years old too. He especially likes the dinos that look like they're smiling -- "happy dinos" he calls 'em. It's a good vocabulary builder too with lots of antonyms (strong, weak; fast, slow; clean, slimy; fierce, meek; etc.)

Rating:
Summary: great even for young toddlers
Review: I got this book for my son shortly before his first birthday, and within a week he was pulling it off the shelf and bringing it to me, roaring all the while. Three months later, it is still his hands-down favorite. I love that it uses words that are different than those you see in most books dealing with opposites, and the artwork is wonderful.