Ten Little Dinosaurs

by Pattie Schnetzler, Jim Harris (Illustrations)

Learn to count backwards in this visually stimulating board book complete with dinosaurs, rhymes, and moving lenticular eyes!

Dinosaurs are known to cause trouble, but in this engaging board book, they’re only hurting themselves! Readers will be delighted by the silly rhymes about naughty dinosaurs while also learning to count backwards, from ten dinosaurs bouncing on the bed down to zero dinosaurs left.

This sturdy board book is packed full of fun, while teaching readers about counting, dinosaurs, and rhyming. The unique and funny illustrations add to the entertainment, complete with lenticular eyes that move when viewed from different angles!

Genres: Picture Books, Dinosaurs, Childrens, Mathematics, Nonfiction

24 pages, Board Book

First published October 1, 1996

Reviews

[Marc *Dark Reader with a Thousand Young! Iä!*]

Content aside, this is the most frustrating book as a physical object. The eyeballs are weighted spheres inside a casing that protrudes front and back:



This makes the book extremely frustrating to shelve:



The only option is to sandwich it between books shorter than its balls, but the jagged shelf profile this creates is no kind of win.

The content is fine. It's a "ten little monkeys" style rhyme in which dinosaurs gradually become extinct by taking part in hazardous activities. Each page is holed so the jiggly, bloodshot eyeballs fit into the left side of each two-page spread. You can stick your fingers through the right side for extra story time giggles.

One page has always bothered me, because I keep looking for any confirmation that the pictured prehistoric plant is in fact called a "mooth" but I keep coming up blank for ANYTHING by that name. Did the author invent it just to rhyme with "tooth"?



My kids are too old for this book but they won't let me pass it on yet because they still get a kick out of the floating eyeballs.

[Naomi Saucke]

Eyes

[Vivian]

Even though this appears to be a show-stopper candidate it fails to deliver, at least for a library pre-school story time.
1) the eyes are weighted in such a way that when held up the iris's point to the ceiling and all the children can see are the whites. It is meant to be held on a lap and shared with an adult and a child.
2) it begins with the "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" motif but then strays to activities that older children relate to, such as biking, rafting, cliff-jumping, skate-boarding, being cool, camping, attending ball games, and finally sunbathing.
3) it employs name calling, such as "boneheads", "nut-brains", "feather-heads", "big mouths" and so on. As a story performer I substituted the name of the dinosaur rather than these labels.
4) it is a bit disturbing that some of the accident victims actually perished -- hence, overall this is a story about dinosaur EXTINCTION rather than dinosaur rowdiness. Ah well.

I did use it with the crowd and it was entertaining to them. But I am retiring this from my story time collection.

[Boom!]

My children love this book which features Dinosaurs and googly eyes that rotate a full 180 degrees. There are also two eye holes so that kids can peer through and look like a dinosaur as well. It is a rhyming and counting book all-in-one which I like. As a parent I enjoy being able to combine different educational topics in one text and this one has a lot of versatility. My only problem is that some of the language can seem crude, especially to small children who love to repeat everything they hear. They say things in the book like bonehead, small brain, but this book is about Dinosaurs so it is not entirely out of context in this setting, however, a little dialogue with children about the appropriate use of language might be warranted as a side discussion.

[Michelle]

I remember finding the eyes to be a tad creepy since they rolled around and if you tilted it too far they rolled backwards. It wasn't a book I kept for a very long, but I remember it being a little odd to read as well.

[♥ Susan]

The googly eye thing bugs me when trying to shelve these... but my daughter loves each and every one of them. I am forced to read and wiggle the eyes quite often ;-)

[Hunter]

I really liked this book but I do have some issues with it. So a 3.5 is more my rating.

First, it’s hard to store this book because of the eyes. You can’t put it on a bookshelf like any other book.

Second, I liked how it was reminiscent of 5 Little Monkey’s Jumping on the Bed, but sometimes the rhymes were clunky. Side-note though: At the end of the book, we are given facts about each dinosaur. The fact plays back into the rhyme from the story. I think it would have been better to have each fact on the same pages as the dinosaur it was talking about so that we would understand the rhyme better.

However, I liked it overall. I think that it was entertaining and simple to read. The illustrations are fun, and the facts are enjoyable.

[Suzanna]

The googly eyes seen on the cover of this book peer through holes in each page as they become the eyes for each dinosaur pictured. The text of this book bounces along and can be sung to the tune of "10 Little Monkeys." It is rhyming, has silly words, and even sillier pictures. The book contains actual dinosaur names, though the depictions of the dinos may be exaggerated. The book is enjoyable for adults and contains some humor that the children may not understand. A glossary in the back gives name pronunciations, pictures, and descriptions for each dinosaur mentioned throughout the story. This book would be good for working on counting and numeral identification.

[Dave]

The kids liked this a lot more than me. Here’s why. (a) the eyes only point at you when you have the book flat, but you usually read the book upright, so they end up dead-eyed white sclera then. (b) the googly eyes are striking and attention grabbing but make it hard to fit the book of a shelf with other similar books. (c) the rhyming is dumb, often, and the logic behind what the creatures are doing is often silly (got a much better version of this same concept from the library a while back). On the other hand, the illustrations are great, skilled, fun. And the kids loved it. I won’t miss it though.

6/10

[Emily]

I didn't read it for a preschool storytime - I think an older crowd can relate to all the activities and the vocabulary and the name-calling. They'll think it's funny if they know the Five Little Monkeys song (and think they're too old for that nursery song). But any kid who is obsessed with dinosaurs will get a kick out of it and learn a lot too. The googly eyes are the most arresting feature of the book. They stick out of the cover and show up on every page. They eyeballs only show up when holding the book flat, though.

[BiblioBickie]

A revision of "Ten Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" but with dinosaurs. There is a Coke bottle on nearly every page, sometimes very prominent. The dinosaurs are called names by the authorities such as "nut-brains" and "boneheads," which are likely meant to be clever nods to their characteristics, which are discussed in 2-3 sentence blurbs in the end-papers. This will be popular with dinosaur-lovers; however, I think this effort falls flat.

[Lara Lamb]

This book is a clever alternative to the children's song about the 10 little monkeys. Each number of the countdown is coupled with a new breed of dinosaur which can make it a useful book for teaching counting skills as well as different facts about the dinosaurs that used to roam the earth. The last number may be a little hard for more sensitive kids because it talks about how all the dinosaurs are dead.

[Joan]

A play on the “Ten Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed” rhyme, this counting down tale of cavorting dinosaurs is sure to please both young readers and dinosaur-loving little ones. Young readers, most of whom are likely to be familiar with the countdown rhyme used here will find this colorfully illustrated, googly-eyed book captivating. An added bonus: following the rhyme, there's a short description of each of the dinosaurs mentioned in the ten verses.

Recommended.

[Kate Hendrick]

A dino version of "Five Little Monkeys" gone wrong

Pretty much the only good part of this book was the moving eyes. I gave it two stars because it was creative, but I don't think I would read this book to kids again. The name-calling was annoying, and some of the dinos died which doesn't mesh well with what seems to be an otherwise playful book. The illustrations are well-done, but too busy for young children.

[Lola]

My two year old Dinosaur loves it! I think the rolling eyes are creepy. Reading out loud didn’t flow as well as the little monkey song it seems to be mimicking. This was a hand-me-down from older cousins who liked it. All and all it was fun and we will keep it for awhile and then pass it on to the next little dinosaur in the family.

[Mellanie C]

Kids love this book because of the googly eyes, which make it a pain to shelve it.

[Teresa Biggie]

my kids all loved this book.. we read it alot

[Lee Ann]

Honestly, kinda creeps me out. 2/5 stars.

[Little Champs]

BB 128

[Jamille Parks]

As a kid growing up I loved the googley eyes. Now it's my niece who can't get enough of them. Such a fun book.

[Lynn]

i have just one thing to say: Giant Googly Eyes 👀

thx for your time

[Michelle Gibbons]

A really good 👍 read.

It is a very good story and is very funny. I liked the rhyme and the dinosaur pictures are funny to.o

[Aisha Mitchell]

Cute concept, but I had a little bit of an issue with some of the name calling in this book.

[Felix]

The trex breaks a tooth and the words are funny and I like the wiggly eyes

[Slurmophidal Fellatrosk]

I oddly loved this book as a kid. Maybe it was the start of my furry awakening... the dinosaurs are cute okay?

[Stargazer]

I just love the google eyes!! Can’t wait to show the wee ones this book…

[Mum Reads]

Enjoyed reading this to my grandson during a recent visit, despite some of the crazy antics of the dinosaurs that really don't hold up.

[Mary]

A fun book with great rhyming! My younger brother and I used to quote from this book all the time when we were little. It's catchy!

[Irish Blue Eyes]

On one exquisitely illustrated page after another, bands of adventurous dinosaurs engage in a succession of perilous escapades. With each adventure, one dinosaur departs from the group, while the rhyming countdown persists until the final little dinosaur remains. Concluding this whimsical tale is a glossary filled with intriguing facts about each species featured in the book.

[Maureen Jehling]

Ten Little Dinosaurs, by Pattie Schnetzler, is a great book for helping young children learn their numbers one through ten in a fun and efficient manner. It starts out with ten little dinosaurs, and ends with only one dinosaur, which also teaches these young children that dinosaurs are now extinct. The book actually has big pop up eyes that the reader can physically touch. Each page has a different number with a catchy phrase about that specific number of dinosaurs that will hopefully help children want to learn these numbers. The unique thing about this book is that the pop out eye balls go through each of the pages and fit into whatever the description was for that page.

I have never seen a book as awesome as this one, and it is definitely a favorite of not only mine, but my other siblings as well. I think that the pop out eyes give it its own memorable touch. There was some rhyming theme throughout the pages as the author made the text sound appealing to the readers, which could make it easier for them to learn those numbers. The author also did a great job with the art throughout the book and her idea to make her text come to life with the eyes!