One of my favorite authors is Karma Wilson. In my home family daycare we've read many of her books and never fail to be delighted, so I was very happy when I found Dinos in the Snow! and added it to our January reading list.
The Story
This is the fun story of several different kinds of dinosaurs including a T-Rex, barapasaurus, stegosaurus, dilophosaurus and even a geranosaurus who all put on their winter gear and go and have fun in the snow.
Each page is filled with the activities of some type of winter sport such as snowboarding or skiing down snowy slopes.
Those dinos hit the snowy slopes.
Now watch those dinos go.
Geranosaurus slalom-jumps
And yells, "Geronimo!"
Dinos in the snow.
There they go!
Whish Whoosh!
The Illustrations
The illustrations in this book are silly and fun for young children. The acrylic and ink drawings have a cartoon look to them while still managing to look like the dinosaur each one represents. The expressive faces and fully clothed dinosaurs are really funny to look at.
Each page is filled with artwork and enough detailing to make us know without even reading the words what is going on, on the pages. The text is placed on the page where there isn't a lot of detail to make it easily visible for reading. It is a medium black font with some expressive words, such as Split Splat! and Woo Hoo! bolded for emphasis.
My Feelings
Dinosaurs are a big hit with the two boys that I have in my daycare, so I knew this book would be one that they would actually sit still and listen to. Add to that, snow and the use of such things as snowboards, skis, sleds, toboggans and ice skates and I knew this book would be a hit.
The two girls also enjoyed hearing this story and really loved the fun illustrations. I loved that one of the pages was a female dinosaur, a Supersauras snowboarding in a pink sweater and pink flourishes around her.
I also like that so many of the dinosaurs were mentioned by their actual names, so we learned something while having fun with this book. There were some that I was familiar with and others that I was not.
While we used this book during January and our study about winter and snow, it would also make a great book to check out when we are talking about dinosaurs, especially since we learned the names of a few unfamiliar ones. I'll definitely put this book on my list to check out from the library again in July when dinosaurs are on our curriculum.
Some of the rhymes are a bit of a stretch or a bit of tongue twister….I just cannot say:
"Geranosaurus slalom-jumps
And yells, "Geronimo!"
There is just something about the geranosaurus slalom-jumps that doesn't flow off the tongue easily. That is more my issue than the books though.
Overall I really like this book and all four of my daycare children, ages 2 - 5, enjoyed it as well. The story is fun and the illustrations are colorful and expressive.
Nuts & Bolts
Dinos in the Snow! was written by Karma Wilson who also authored Bear Hugs Romantically Ridiculous Animal Rhymes and Bear Stays Up for Christmas.
The illustrations were done by Laura Rader who has also illustrated such books as What To Expect When Mommies Having a Baby, What to Expect At Preschool and What to Expect at the Dentist.
This 28 page hardcover book was published by Little, Brown and Company in October 2005. It has a jacket price of $18.99 US and $21.99 in Canada.
The age recommendation for this book is 3 - 6 years, which I feel is an appropriate recommendation.
ISBN: 0316009482
Recommended:
