Five Faves: Dinosaur Picture Books

As a kid, I had several unrealistic career paths chosen for myself. I distinctly remember in fifth grade debating between an NFL player and an opera singer. LOL! But one dream job was a little more realistic than the rest and just as exciting to think about --a paleontologist. Not much is cooler than getting paid to find dinosaur bones, except for maybe reading books about dinosaurs. Read on, dinosaur lovers!

Granny Rex
Written by Kurtis Scaletta
Illustrated by Nik Henderson
Petaluma, CA: Cameron Kids, 2023. Picture Book.

A tiny bird getting pushed around by a mean hawk gets inspiration from her ancestor --the mighty dinosaur!

Have You Seen My Invisible Dinosaur?
By Helen Yoon
Somerville, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press, 2023. Picture Book.

A little girl has lost her best friend --an invisible dinosaur! She's searched high and low, with no luck. What's a girl got to do to track down her invisible pal?

Parker's Place
By Russ Willms
New York: Clarion Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2023. Picture Book.

A T-Rex named Parker really wants to fit in and find his place at a farm, but no jobs seem suitable for a dinosaur. Will some helpful chickens find the perfect spot for Parker before he gives up?

Penny & Pip
Written by Candace Fleming
Illustrated by Eric Rohmann
New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2023. Picture Book.

On a museum field trip, a young girl named Penny notices a sauropod egg hatching. Penny and the baby sauropod, who she names Pip, have fun going through the museum together until Penny realizes that Pip is the only dinosaur left. She has to figure out a way to take care of her new friend and get him out of the museum!

10 Things I Love About Dinosaurs
Written by Samantha Sweeney
Illustrated by Rob McClurkan
Wilton, CT: Random House Distribution, 2024. Picture Book.

A small boy's favorite thing in the whole world is dinosaurs and he's going to tell you the top 10 reasons why!

Comments

Review: Alice with a Why

Alice with a Why By Anna James New York: Penguin, 2026. Fiction. 240 pgs. In 1919, in the aftermath of the first World War, Alyce is living with her grandmother in the English countryside. Her grandmother, also named Alice, tells Alyce (with a y) stories from her childhood adventures in a wonderful land filled with white rabbits and mad hatters. Alyce doesn't really believe the silly stories, she just misses her father who was killed in the war. One day, Alyce receives a mysterious invitation to tea, and subsequently falls into a pond where she is transported to Wonderland. Her grandmother, of course, is that Alice. Alyce is prompted by the Mad Hatter, Dormouse, and March Hare to seek out the Time Being and put an end to the war between the Sun King and the Queen of the Moon. Thus begins Alyce's adventure through Wonderland. I have a certain soft spot for the original story of Alice in Wonderland. It is one of my particular favorites and I often have a hard time reading new int...

Review: A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall

A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall By Jasmine Warga New York: Harper, 2024. Fiction. 211 pages. A painting has been stolen from the Penelope L. Brooks Museum and sixth-grader Rami Ahmed is worried he's the main suspect. His mother works at the museum as the lead custodian and Rami spends a lot of time hanging out at the museum while she works. On the day the painting went missing, the only people there were the security guard Ed, the cleaning crew, and Rami. Then, a mysterious girl appears in the museum. She floats around from room to room and only Rami can see her -- and she looks exactly like the girl from the missing painting. To prove his innocence and help figure out who the floating girl is, Rami partners up with an aspiring sleuth at school named Veda and the two dive into unexpected situations as they try to solve the mystery. This is a cozy mystery that is focused mostly on characters and ambiance and only a little on the mystery itself. Don't read this book if yo...

Review: The Factory

The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages. Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...

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