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The Day of the Dinosaur
Easy-to-read rhyme and light-hearted illustrations introduce youngsters to selected members of the dinosaur species
32 pages, Hardcover
First published January 28, 1987
108 people want to read
About the author
Stan Berenstain
922 books702 followersStan and Jan Berenstain (often called The Berenstains) were American writers and illustrators best known for creating the children's book series the Berenstain Bears. Their son Mike Berenstain joined them as a creative team in the late 1980s.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 31, 2018
Read this book for my son as a bedtime story tonight. This book has excellent information about dinosaurs and other animals that are extinct. I like that the author gives a definition of extinct in the story. I like that there are names of different dinosaurs and pictures of how they look. I like the interactive questions to readers about why we know there were dinosaurs existed long long long ago and explained that it was discovered through bones or fossils found in the ground. I highly recommend this book to everyone!
December 22, 2012
It's hard to give this book five stars when I know how riddled with glaring inaccuracies it is, but it was just too much of a childhood favourite not to. One of the books that has most defined my lifelong internal picture of what dinosaurs looked like, and the rhymes are catchy and memorable. Just a wonderful children's book.
April 27, 2020
Great illustrations.
September 2, 2020
Although this book was made by the famous Berenstains there is none of the well-known bear characters to be found within these particular pages. Instead the book looks back at just a very small handful of prehistoric beasts whether they were dinosaurs, prehistoric reptiles, early mammals and even the only early bird.
Alas the book is from 1987 and so most of the information included is a bit on the outdated science scene for within the pages are now known errors such as tyrannosaurus fighting the stegosaurus or pretty much where scientists are leaning towards the asteroid collision for the wipeout while in other cases known names for say the prehistoric rhino are a bit more hefty than that. And of course there are no modern updates in how we think certain of these giant creatures looked such as a feather king of the dinosaurs.
Even so the writing is easy enough to understand while there are helpful pronunciation guides on the same page for those who may have problems tripping over some of the harder names. Some of the actual writing also borders on having a bit of a rhythm and rhyme flow to it.
What I really find fascinating about this particular book, though, is that even with one illustrator the dinosaurs or other creatures are portrayed in two separate formats. Most of the subjects are given in a bit of a realistic appearance and could have fit into almost any other children-focused prehistoric book while others hold the same brightly colored, slightly cartoonish, looks that the Berenstein Bears are known for.
Even though it is definitely an outdated book it would still make for a good stepping stone into the subject of dinosaurs for interested children.
Alas the book is from 1987 and so most of the information included is a bit on the outdated science scene for within the pages are now known errors such as tyrannosaurus fighting the stegosaurus or pretty much where scientists are leaning towards the asteroid collision for the wipeout while in other cases known names for say the prehistoric rhino are a bit more hefty than that. And of course there are no modern updates in how we think certain of these giant creatures looked such as a feather king of the dinosaurs.
Even so the writing is easy enough to understand while there are helpful pronunciation guides on the same page for those who may have problems tripping over some of the harder names. Some of the actual writing also borders on having a bit of a rhythm and rhyme flow to it.
What I really find fascinating about this particular book, though, is that even with one illustrator the dinosaurs or other creatures are portrayed in two separate formats. Most of the subjects are given in a bit of a realistic appearance and could have fit into almost any other children-focused prehistoric book while others hold the same brightly colored, slightly cartoonish, looks that the Berenstein Bears are known for.
Even though it is definitely an outdated book it would still make for a good stepping stone into the subject of dinosaurs for interested children.
January 20, 2018
Designed to introduce young readers to dinosaurs, this narrative tells about several of the more well-known dinosaurs and explains how scientists know about them today. Colorful illustrations accompany the rhyming text; of particular note is the Brontosaurus, whose picture spreads over five pages, providing children with a concrete way to understand his size.
Though dated . . . since its publication, the Brontosaurus has morphed into being an Apatosaurus . . . this visually attractive introduction to dinosaurs is sure to delight young readers curious about the huge beasts who once roamed the planet.
Though dated . . . since its publication, the Brontosaurus has morphed into being an Apatosaurus . . . this visually attractive introduction to dinosaurs is sure to delight young readers curious about the huge beasts who once roamed the planet.
December 8, 2017
Who knew this was narrative nonfiction? This was a really cute book from my childhood that I remembered, which is why I chose to bring it in. While there could be more scientific aspects and text features to make the book more informative, the message still comes across.
November 15, 2017
I thought that this was a good book about dinosaurs. easy enough for everyone to enjoy. my 3 kids enjoyed reading this book. I would recommend this book to others.
April 3, 2019
This book was fun.
My only complaint was that many of the herbivore dinosaurs were illustrated with sharp scary teeth.
My only complaint was that many of the herbivore dinosaurs were illustrated with sharp scary teeth.
March 20, 2023
Engaging and informative - held my nearly 4 year old son's attention. And even at age 41 I'm still learning new things about dinosaurs!🦖
May 14, 2023
Didn’t expect the poem style, but Maddie liked it.
March 7, 2017
This book is a great for early readers who are interested in dinosaurs. My mom use to read this one with my brother and I. The story starts our describing how dinosaurs came way before the things he know today (people, cities, towns). Then it transitions into the day of the dinosaurs. It describes different dinosaurs shapes and sizes, and even compared one to the size of a cat. The plot of this book to is educate children about dinosaurs, and explain why we know about them today. It shows kids that we were not the first living beings on this planet.
I liked how they separated the big dinosaur names to make it easier for the early reader. An example of this would be Fab-ro-SAUR-us and Bront-o-SAUR-us. The illustrations in this early reader book are simple yet detailed. Their was a large amount of the color green used to show how new the world was then. The text supported the pictures, and the pictures supported the text. The font was large and easy to read. Some illustrations of the dinosaurs were going off the page since they were so big. The text was placed in a different spot on each page. Some pages had multiple illustrations showing different scenes.
I liked how they separated the big dinosaur names to make it easier for the early reader. An example of this would be Fab-ro-SAUR-us and Bront-o-SAUR-us. The illustrations in this early reader book are simple yet detailed. Their was a large amount of the color green used to show how new the world was then. The text supported the pictures, and the pictures supported the text. The font was large and easy to read. Some illustrations of the dinosaurs were going off the page since they were so big. The text was placed in a different spot on each page. Some pages had multiple illustrations showing different scenes.
February 9, 2023
I love this book. It is short, cute, and is very informative to get children hooked on dinosaurs with the basic famous ones making an appearance like Stegosaurus, T-Rex, and Brontosaurus with basic facts about them for young children. And it is very nicely illustrated also. Just a nice little book that I forgot I had in my book collection over time.
December 8, 2012
A great introduction to dinsosaurs told in lyrical fashion. Michael Berenstain's art is really great and I especially love the 5 page Brontosaurus illustration -- really helping to drive home how big some of these fellas were.
May 1, 2011
It's a relief to read something besides the bears from the Berenstains. This one came into rotation when Danny had dinosaur week at school.
August 10, 2011
the characters and stories of the berenstain bears teaching children early learning concepts.
July 6, 2012
It's a relief to read something besides the bears from the Berenstains. This one came into rotation when Danny had dinosaur week at school.
October 18, 2012
This is a wonderful book to share with younger children! Very fun with great pictures to match!
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews