Sandra Boynton’s books are mostly irresistible to my toddler, and dinosaurs are completely irresistible to me.  So, unsurprisingly, Oh My Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs! gets pulled from the bookshelf with far more regularity than most books we own. 

The Story
Made of thick cardboard, this sturdy board book consists of a series of rhyming phrases about dinosaurs.  There are good dinosaurs, bad dinosaurs, singing dinosaurs, cute dinosaurs, and less attractive dinosaurs.  My personal favorite rhyme:

            Dinosaurs EARLY.
            Dinosaurs LATER.
            Dinosaurs crammed in an elevator.   

The book is illustrated with an eye-catching, if not exactly realistic, array of colorful dinosaurs that match the descriptions given in the text.

Oh My Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs has a cover price of $6.95.  While it’s somewhat unusual to see individual Boynton books on sale, you can often pick up three book sets for a substantially discounted price.  Amazon.com currently offers this title along with Pajama Time and Barnyard Dance (both solid picks) for $12.89, which is such a good deal I’m thinking about buying it to keep on hand for a baby gift.

My Thoughts
Most likely due to the snappy phrasing and bright illustrations, Oh My Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs is one of Baby_Chelledun’s favorite books.  She routinely hands it to me, plops down on my lap, and starts nodding along with the words.  At 20 pages of content, the story is just the right length for a toddler’s short attention span.  In fact, sometimes Baby_Chelledun will even want to hear the story multiple times in a sitting.  Fortunately, for me this book is also a lot of fun to read even after extensive repetition, which is a rare and valuable quality in a children’s book.

While there are better books for educating your children about the different types of dinosaurs and their attributes, this story is great for introducing them to the general idea of dinosaurs in a fun, silly, entertaining way.  The rhyming phrases can also be used to initiate a discussion of opposites such as cold/hot, big/tiny, and plump/lean.  Finally, the book showcases dinosaurs of many different colors, with red, blue, yellow, and green specifically highlighted.

While we have and enjoy quite of few of Boynton’s books, this one may just be the best of the lot.  There’s virtually nothing not to love about this charming, infectious board book, making Oh My Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs! a solid choice for either a shower gift or your family’s home library. 

Recommended: Yes