Have You Seen My Dinosaur?

by Jon Surgal, Joe Mathieu (Illustrator)

How do you find a missing dinosaur who’s large and green and likes to roar? When a little boy’s dinosaur decides to play hide-and-seek, he is surprisingly difficult to track down. Veteran illustrator Joe Mathieu’s dino mite illustrations and Jon Surgal’ s saur -ing verse will have kids roaring with laughter as they romp through this funny rhyming Beginner Book.

Originally created by Dr. Seuss, Beginner Books encourage children to read all by themselves, with simple words and illustrations that give clues to their meaning.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Dinosaurs, Fiction, Kids, Humor

48 pages, Hardcover

First published August 25, 2010

Reviews

[booklady]

Really cute, early reader rhyming story about a little boy in search of his imaginary dinosaur who accompanies him on the search. The illustrations are darling, in a time and place where that descriptive word is vastly over-used; it this case they are! I hope to read this to my grandson more than once. Keeping my fingers crossed it becomes a favorite because I long to linger over the pages and study all the cute expressions and ways the dinosaur sweetly insinuates himself onto every page as the little boy goes in search for him. The extra star will come if grandson validates my reaction. I hope, I hope!

[Lauren]

A bit too long. The rhymes and illustrations are good. The message is good as well, revolves around imagination and believing. Would recommend.

[Lacey Bolen]

I really enjoyed this book. I love the illustrations and beginning readers would too! This book would probably be best for later beginning readers because some of the pages have a larger amount of words on it. However, it is a fairly quicks story and for the most part has small amounts of words with larger fonts.There is also no dialogue so it is not quite to the level of transitional books. If this book was used as a read aloud (kindergarten) students could practice creative writing in finding someone or something and write a story about finding it.

[Jennifer]

My 3 year kid loves the story and finding the dinosaur. I think it would be good for early readers as there is good rhyming with words that have different endings.

[Mina☾]

Reading this book is a task. It’s unnecessarily long and most of the rhymes are boring and predictable. Also, it stresses my kid out that they can’t see the dinosaur in plain sight lol.

[Smars]

Some hiding spots were certainly more clever than others. If it was a larger book physically I probably would have felt more immersed. Unfortunately it's bound in the same I Can Read It All By Myself shape.

[Helen]

Clever art to support the easy-reading story.

[Christopher Heeding]

Good book

My three year
Old liked it
She was able to pay attention the entire length of the book
Definitely a good night book

[ramezan]

یه کتاب صرفا سرگرم کننده با هدف بازی بازی کردن! در حدی که یه بچهٔ مثلا دو تا چهار ساله رو بشه باهاش سرگرم کرد.

[Julie]

Fun book

This was a cute, fun book to read with my 5-year-old. The rhymes were great and made the book move along quickly.

[Julie]

Very Seuss-ish!

[Crystianno balkissoon]

This is a very nice book

[Patrick]

Not my kind of thing but cute and well done

[Susan]

Super cute Easy Reader about a little boy who has lost his dinosaur and needs readers help to find him.

[Leigh]

Kids love it

The story keeps the kids on their toes pointing out where the dinosaur is. I have to read it to them twice before their naps. Lots of fun!!

[RA2]

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[SAUK2]

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J u g j j y k k I y I I u I u you j. J y I u

[Mrs. Lang]

my 2 year old loved it.

My two-year-old loved this book despite it being read on a tablet. She was still very engaged. Great for traveling with littles.

[David]

Fun little book where the kids get to “speak” to the main character at the end of

[Rachel Bennett]

Pretty fun. The kids enjoyed it.

[Aaron Eichler]

A Suess style book I have never read, it was fun to read with my son.

[Amelia Ganancial]

Read this book >100 times. Great play on words. Learned a few new animals myself

[US1test]

Yes

H d j F u r j. So j a sis j a an g sing kbf g F h hi I F h g fh fh

[Ashley Bianca]

Philomena's review: "I found him!" and loved it so much she tucked the book in her bed and fell asleep.

[Jason Brinley]

Jon Surgal’s Have You Seen My Dinosaur is a structured, predictable picture book with repetitive text about a young boy who is struggling to find his green dinosaur that likes to roar. The author tells this story in verse, in a similar rhyming pattern of most Doctor Seuss books; e.g., “He sometimes likes a little drink. So have you seen him in the sink?" The illustrations done by Joe Mathieu contain brilliant, bright colors and are quite humorous; as is seen in the aforementioned scene with the child’s dinosaur hiding under the kitchen sink cabinet and sneaking a drink of water, while the little boy and his mother's backs are turned. Joe Mathieu's illustrations add so much dimension and enjoyment to the author’s clever, funny, and adorable story. This children’s book is more contemporary than other Doctor Seuss books, as it takes the little boy to a zoo where he learns about zoo animals and far off places, such as Bhutan and East Timor. The comedy in the story's plot is seen throughout the story; e.g., when this little child decides to approach a college professor to get his input as to where a dinosaur might go, and Professor Pew suggests a big museum; to which the naive little guy replies: “Is this the place where, people say, a dinosaur is on display?” After searching high and low, the author draws the reader into the story by having the boy ask the viewer if he/she has seen his dinosaur. Have You Seen My Dinosaur? allows the reader to understand the importance of the author's narrative and the illustrator's artistry to work in unison, complementing one another; as this is essential for them to present a book that is fascinating, appealing, and considered worth reading.
Teachers can use Have You Seen My Dinosaur as a teaching tool to help expand students' literacy skills. This is an excellent book selection for young readers as its composition and style of writing will help to instill confidence in students as they recite repetitive words. Reading rhyming text, such as this, also makes reading more enjoyable for children and helps them to develop a love for literature. This style of book also helps students to increase their vocabulary skills, because children tend to retain what interests and humors them. Students will greatly enjoy participating in different class projects based on this story, such as performing a play or doing an art project depicting their favorite scenes.
Using E-books in the classroom is a wonderful tool for reaching students in various ways. E-books allow teachers opportunities to teach the entire class with everyone being able to view a particular book. E-readers can enable teachers to “mix it up,” making reading more fun through the use of technology. E-books better hold students' attention, which helps them to develop a love for reading; and they may better reach students with attention difficulties and English language learners.

[Ashleigh]

Have you Seen My Dinosaur? He's Large. He's green. He likes to roar. Come tag along and help a young boy find his dinosaur. His journey begins at the house and takes him throughout town. He asks mom, the Fisherman, and Professor Pew. He even makes a visit to a local museum. But no luck there. His only person left to ask is you, Have You seen my Dinosaur?

Have you seen my dinosaur by Jon Surgal will make the readers giggle! This Fun-filled mystery of the missing dinosaur is an easy to read picture book. The rhymes create a flow of words from page-to-page, Partnered up with bright colored cartoon-like illustrations depicting the young boys journey.

[Alice]

3.25 stars Any children's picture book that uses places like Culloden (yep been there) East Timor, Bhutan and Baden-Baden (where is Baden-Baden?) you have a fun hunt for a dinosaur. Also, while stretching our mind while looking for the dinosaur we see, ocelot, gnu, kinkajou (google search activated). More Google searches for me..even though it is an early kids reader. We are lead from the pictures that there is a true, real dinosaur, but all the other people point out facts like dinosaurs aren't alive any more. Good for a smile!

[Debbie Phillips]

A little boy has "lost" his dinosaur... or is the dinosaur playing hide-and-seek?? A fun book with the dinosaur on each page for the kids to easily find and they do tell you... "There he is, under the wooden walkway (they usually don't know the word pier). A great I can read it Seuss book with wonderful illustrations and easy to read text.

Read for a Dino Storytime on June 12th when my paid performer cancelled at the last minute.

[Libby]

Cute story of a little boy determined to find his dinosaur, despite the incompetence and disbelief of all the grown-ups around him. The rhyme and rhythm are sometimes not quite flowing, but the story is fun to read even so. My kids loved that they could find the dinosaur when the grown-ups in the story couldn't, and that they got to help the boy at the end.