We Love Dinosaurs

by Lucy Volpin (Contributor)

We Love Dinosaurs

Genres: Picture Books, Dinosaurs, Storytime, Childrens, Animals, Juvenile, Fiction

32 pages, Paperback

Published August 4, 2016

About the author

Lucy Volpin is a children’s book author and illustrator. Being wildly dyslexic, Lucy never imagined that she would not only be illustrating, but also writing stories, too! Lucy loves to capture expression and movement in her work, along with humor and silliness, by using pencils and watercolor. Her first picture book, We Love Dinosaurs (Nosy Crow), was published in August 2016. She lives in rural Devon, England, with her husband and enjoys spending time renovating their barn conversion, walking, singing, and making a mess in her studio.

Reviews

[Richie Partington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richie’s Picks: WE LOVE DINOSAURS (Board Book) by Lucy Volpin, Nosy Crow, June 2018, 32p., ISBN: 978-1-5362-1443-7

“If I had a dinosaur, just think what we could do
He could lift me off the floor and take me to the zoo
And if I had a dinosaur, just think what we could see
We could look inside the clouds above my balcony
And if I had a dinosaur, just think where we could go
All the way to Grandma’s house to play her piano.”
-- Raffi (1977)

I can vividly recall my first visit to the dinosaurs at the American Museum of Natural History. It's been close to sixty years since that field trip, but I can still see myself gazing up at the glorious immensity of those skeletons.

“We love ones with gigantic ROARS!
And ones with tiny, snuffly snores.
We love their spines from head to tail.
We love the spikes they swing and flail.”

Reading to children, even before they are speaking in sentences, promotes language development. And if you’re going to spend your time reading aloud, it’s a lot more fun to perform books to babies and toddlers when you have a rollicking, rhyming book. A book full of enormous, colorful, smiling creatures to catch the eye of your baby audience. WE LOVE DINOSAURS is a perfect example.

This very fun read concludes with,

“In fact, we really love them all! We’d only love them more, we think…
if somehow they weren’t all extinct.”

I really like how the book ends with that science term, “extinct,” offering a perfect opportunity to introduce the concepts of evolution and life cycles. And scientific research and museums. With little ones, you can explain that the dinosaurs lived long ago. You can share online images to complement the pair of skeletons that accompany the ending.

Since that first memorable trip to the museum, I’ve loved imagining dinosaurs wandering the planet. WE LOVE DINOSAURS will captivate the newest generation of dinosaur aficionados with catchy rhymes and large, colorful images.

Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute, non-scary illustrations perfect for wee dino fans.

[Isabel Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

We Love Dinosaurs is a perfect book for children who are obsessed with dinosaurs. It is short, simple, and sweet. Author Lucy Volpin compares and contrasts all sorts of different types of dinosaurs and celebrates them all regardless of how they look or act. The text rhymes and can be read in a sing-songy voice which will definitely help to attract a youngster's attention. If you are looking for dinosaur storytime material, this book would be a great option. Pair it with Laurie Berkner's "We Are the Dinosaurs" song and one of Jane Yolen's many dinosaur books for a fun dino-filled time.

[Lindsi (Do You Dog-ear?) · Rating 5 out of 5]

We Love Dinosaurs is a better fit for younger children that are still learning words and what they mean. The writing is very simple, but the illustrations are beautiful! I really loved all the colors and how they made the dinosaurs pop. This book gives examples of a dinosaur that eats plants, one that eats meat, another that likes to cuddle when it sleeps (I think), and so on.

[Peyton Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a colorful display of the different kinds of dinosaurs there are, and all the different reasons why you should love them. There are big dinosaurs, small dinosaurs, slow ones and fast ones, and dinos that eat all kinds of foods.

The illustrations are very cute, and they are drawn to go along with the description that is on their page. This book is for young kids and beginner readers, as there are only a handful of words on each page, and they are easy to read. I wish that they said what each dinosaur was, instead of just describing them. It made it seem like they were all made up animals, but if they had said what dinosaur it was, it would be more fun and interesting for the kids, since they would be able to choose which one is their favorite.

This could be used in a classroom to introduce descriptive words, and how to use different words to describe something to others. After it is read in class, the teacher could ask the students what are some of the things that they love, and have them use adjectives to better describe them.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most everybody has loved dinosaurs at some point in their childhood and here is a picture book for this generation of dino-lovers! Each page rhymes with facts about dinosaurs that you may or may not already know. Some are big, some are small. Some eat meat and some like their veggies. Some dinosaurs move quickly while others plod along. This is a poem that shares dino-facts rather than telling a story, but it is jolly with it's reasoning that dinosaurs are just plain loveable!

Great book! The dinosaurs pictured on the pages are caricaturized as plump, brightly colored beasties with happy smiles on their faces--except the roaring T-rex. What sets this book apart from other books about dinosaurs is that hidden in the poetry are facts that readers will pick-up effortlessly. Little ones will come away from this book knowing some basic facts about these bygone brutes. Also special is that the book cover can be reversed for a wall-worthy poster. A very nice book indeed.

[McKenzie Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

For more reviews, check out my blog: Craft-Cycle

A very nice dinosaur book that is perfect for young dino fans. I really liked the colorful illustrations and rhythmic rhymes in this book. It is also perfect for teaching/reviewing opposites.

I think the author's own story is also very interesting. Volpin is dyslexic and never thought she'd illustrate and write her own book, but here it is and it is wonderful. A nice reminder that something isn't necessarily impossible just because it is difficult.

I enjoyed this book and read it with one of the kids I work with to review opposites. She loved all of the colorful dinosaurs.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute poem book, one without a plot but more a list of reasons why the narrator loves dinosaurs. The illustrations are bright, cheerful and fill the pages with colorful dinosaurs. The text adds to the artwork, and I like how there is some rhyme and a nice flow when reading, as well as the vocab that is well placed (words like fail, brawl, snuffle and gigantic). I can also appreciate that the front and end pages have the dinosaurs seen throughout the book with their official titles beside them.

[Lauren]

This is perfect for kids who love dinosaurs and just for kids to learn more about dinosaurs. It is short, sweet, and simple. You see compared and contrasted dinosaurs. It can also be kind of a singing book it all flows together and rhymes. The pictures are so cute, colorful, and big. This would allow younger kids to see and grab their attention. Also in the front and back before the book begins it allows for a learning moment with the different names of the dinosaurs you see through the book.
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[Tiffany May Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful, bright pictures and short simple rhyming sentences. This story uses dinosaurs to teach comparison terms. It’s easy to read aloud but there isn’t really a story involved, so it won’t capture the attention of kids past preschool (my 3 year didn’t want me to read it to her again after the first reading and still wasn’t interested in it a week later. She would have probably loved this story a year ago though). This illustrated children’s book is somewhere between a 3 and 4 star.

[MeganRuth - Alohamora Open a Book · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fun and quick read would be great for a storytime read aloud. It's simple. About dinosaurs. The rhyming and rhythm is great. The text is repetitive so you can get participation if you want. Some great vocabulary words, and the ending is simple but awesome. All in all a great book.

Great for dinosaur lovers, toddler/preschool storytime, and family storytime.

Focus: Phonemic Awareness. Classification. Print Motivation. Vocabulary

[Vernon Area Public Library KIDS · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are 500,034 dinosaur picture books in existence yet this one is still a delight. Watercolor illustrations give a gentle allure for younger kiddos who may find other dinosaur books too scary or too long. Concept-rich text and some unique vocabulary knock this read-aloud out of the park. A new storytime favorite for the littles.

Reviewed by: Miss Kelsey, Youth and School Services, Vernon Area Public Library

[Marian Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

07/08/25 Good for a dinosaur storytime with lots of little ones since there are big, brightly colored illustrations and just a few lines of text per page. There's also an opportunity for everyone to do a gigantic dinosaur roar in the middle of the book. A MUST with dinosaur storytime! I suppose this book is somewhat outdated because now we know dinosaurs had feathers, but I haven't seen many (any??) children's picture books come through with feathered dinosaur characters.

[Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Age: Infant-Toddler

There are 500,034 dinosaur picture books out there yet this is still a delight. Watercolor illustrations give a gentle allure for younger kiddos who may find other dinosaur books too scary or too long. Concept-rich text and some unique vocabulary knock this read-aloud out of the park. A new storytime favorite for the littles.

[Vicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

What’s not to love about this fun dinosaur book? Clean white pages with water colorful illustrations. The text is rhyming, not too overwhelming and some of the font is emphasized by size.

Endpapers have dinosaurs paired with their names and can also be used as a size comparison.

A great read aloud to toddlers and preschoolers.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short and sweet book about dinosaurs. The author uses descriptive terms for the dinos rather than their proper names but this is nice as a parent reading, you’re not stumbling over hard Dino names. It also has cute colourful pictures, some interesting vocabulary to talk about with your little one and fun rhymes.

[Kate M. Colby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack borrowed this book from the Oxford Public Library. I picked it because he loves dinosaurs.

Since Jack was so open to reading new books today, I took this one over to the couch to see if he was interested. Sure enough, he sat down next to me and listened to the whole books. He liked saying roar and looking at the different dinos. Lots of smiles.

[Pug · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love dinosaurs! :) But I hate rhyming. :( Despite that, it wasn't too cheesy for a children's book: it had pretty illustrations of colorful/cute/smiley dinosaurs. I prefered the dinosaurs with the "tiny, snuffly snores"... just like my pug!

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has really cool illustrations. The lines and shapes and colors are just good. A descriptive book about different dinosaurs and their traits. This would be great for toddlers and preschool aged children.

[Amy Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for both a family and toddler story time. The book offers great opportunities for interaction through movement and sounds. I enjoyed the simple sentences and being able to cut sections of the book easily if needed. I would read it again for a story time about dinosaurs or movement.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would work well for a read-aloud for storytime

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect dinosaur picture book. The length is good, the illustrations are bright and fun.

[Jessica Furtado · Rating 3 out of 5]

a very simple dinosaur tale perfect for Toddler Time.

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very simple for very young children.

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Of course children will enjoy this colorful comparing book. However, the Dinosaur Roar book by Stickland does a much better job. Enjoy the original. Why are we retelling a dinosaur story?

[Miss Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute toddler and up dinosaur book about all the ways they look and sound. Clear pictures and easy text.

[Alyssa Gudenburr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A PERFECT book for storytime about Dinosaurs. The illustrations are cute and the text is short rhymes.

[Pamela Groseclose · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is perfect for story time! Not only is it dinosaurs, but there is some movement you can incorporate with it too. I can't wait to use it with my toddlers.

[Molly Cluff (Library!) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This would be darling for our toddler storytime. I love all the action words and the kid-friendly pictures. Total win!

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good for a dinosaur storytime