Dinovember: All About Dinosaurs

Dinovember – a month long imagination invasion. That’s according to Refe and Susan Tuma, the creators of the phenomenon known as Dinovember. These two parents decided that every year, they would devote the month of November to convincing their children that while they sleep, their plastic dinosaur figures come to life.

While here in Hastings District Libraries, we haven’t gone to that extent, we have found a way that we can all participate in a small way.

Every day this month, we invite your children to search for a small dinosaur hidden in the library. They are small and they look nice and gnarly and will hopefully be found after more than a few minutes of searching.

Facts About Dinosaurs

All facts about dinosaurs can be found in this precise location in the Junior Non-Fiction section: J 567.9

If you have a dinosaur lover in your household, get them to memorise it so that they can head there to their happy place straight away when visiting the libraries. Any library actually.

There are literally hundreds of non-fiction dinosaur books in our collections, and thousands out there in the world so I’m going to mention just one beautiful recent purchase by the libraries that I found, only because I enjoy books with a bit of interaction and mystery in them.

 Book of Dinosaurs: 10 record-breaking prehistoric animals by Gabrielle Balkan, illustrated by Sam Brewster. In this beautiful book, you're given factual information on one page, then an illustration of the complete dinosaur fossilised with bonus raised feel for each of the bones. (Brilliant stroke of genius, publishers!) You then can guess what the dinosaur is before turning the page where the answer is provided in a beautiful two-page spread of the dinosaur in its environment.

You'll find many more works of art packed full of information like this one in the 567.9 section in the kids non-fiction section.

Dinosaur Board Books

Do you have a young one who has a tendency to destroy the pages in books at the moment? Try some of our dinosaur board books, such as these ones that I really rate:

How Do Dinosaurs Learn Their Colors? by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Mark Teague
From the author who brought us How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? this title is only in board book format, catering to our youngest dinosaur enthusiasts who may just be getting into colour recognition. The colours aren't the brightest, however the funny antics of the dinosaurs should win out. Plus, the names of the dinosaurs are hidden in small print within the pictures for adults to read.

Into the Land of Dinosaurs by Laura Baker
This is an interesting board book with a distinctive layered touch-and-feel drawcard. Quite visually appealing and I'm sure your young one will enjoy it too.

Rosa Loves Dinosaurs by Jessica Spanyol
Part of a series that addresses gender norms, I quite enjoyed this title as I have a daughter who loved dinosaurs when she was younger. It's so important to find kids' books where they are seen and reflected back in the characters and illustrations.

What the Dinosaurs Did Last Night by Refe and Susan Tuma
The book with all the images of the dinosaur mischief-making scenes that Refe and Susan originally created in their house for their children. For a sneak peak of those creative dinosaurs before you see the book, have a look at the official Dinovember website: https://dinovember.com/dinovember.

Revenge of the Dinotrux by Chris Gall
Machinery and dinosaurs, what's not to love? Combining two winning interests is sure to enthral your young one. What about characters names like Craneosaurus, Garbageadon and Rollodon - not to mention of course Tyrannosaurus trux (anything with an 'x' makes it infinitely cooler) added to the storyline? What about three Netflix series spinoffs too? If you like this book, try the next level up, three titles in the Dinotrux series found in our beginning to read collection. All Dinotrux books can be found here in our catalogue.

Stand-out Dinosaur Picture Books

Did you know we have at least 123 picture books about dinosaurs in our libraries? I feel like there should be more...

Click here to see all 123 of these gems.

Here's just four that I consider stand-out dinosaur picture books. I'll mention again the team that is Jane Yolen and Mark Teague, the creators of the How Do Dinosaurs series. We've got three of their picture books in our libraries, my favourite being the original How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? Incidentally, we featured this very title as our first book in last summer's Storywalk up in Karitūwhenua Stream walkway. We probably read it at last year's Dinovember Storytime too.

The Dinosaur that Pooped a Pirate by Tom Fletcher
Linking back to an event we had a few months ago - Poos and Farts Storytime, with an impressive 157 people attending - here's a good favourite funny dinosaur story that's the latest in the Dinosaur that Pooped series. 

Stomp! a dinosaur follow-the-leader story by Ruth Paul
Now eleven years old, but one I consider a classic, this is one story by a New Zealand author and illustrator that I am happy to recommend again and again. We even had it as another of our Storywalk stories in April 2021. It follows a rag-tag bunch of of dinosaurs across the page in one direction until they get to a wall and then turn around to head the other way. Highly recommended for the youngest of dinosaur enthusiasts.

The Gigantosaurus series by Johnny Duddle. I can't get far without acknowledging that I have purchased most titles in this series. It also happens to be a Netflix tie-in. My apologies, parents. We have 10 picture books, one board book and two electronic games in this series - woohoo! Have a look at the first in the series: Gigantosaurus.

Wanting some dinosaur books but can't face searching for them all?

Easy peasy! We've got you sorted with our Pick & Mix service. Just tell us your child's interests, preferences (e.g. picture books or factual books) and what they've enjoyed. Let library staff members take the hassle out of searching. It's that simple.

Posted by Hana

28 October 2022

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