With a new Jurassic World film out, Dino-mania is upon us once again! Here is a list of dinosaur books for kids that is sure to satisfy your kids’ cravings for all things prehistoric.
Dinosaur Books for 0–3
We Love Dinosaurs
By Lucy Volpin
Picture Book
This is a lovely book for littles with barely a sentence per page spread and soft, cartoon-style dinos on a white background. It touches on opposites (big and small, fast and slow), colors, and features of the dinosaurs like spikes, meat-eaters and plant-eaters, etc. And there’s a page where you get to ROAR!
Dinosaur Dance
By Sandra Boynton
Board Book
We love all things Sandra Boynton here! This book introduces various dinosaurs with their real names, and each of them gets a fun dance move. This is a great one for adding a playful movement component to your read-alouds.
Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs
By Byron Barton
Junior Nonfiction
This book has colorful, kid-friendly images and simple descriptions of what different dinosaurs looked like (long necks, sharp teeth, clubbed tails, horns, etc). This is a great overview for the younger ages. Byron Barton has lots of great kids books for toddlers and preschoolers, even on nonfiction topics!
Dinosaur Books for 3–5
Tyrannosaurus Rex Vs. Edna, The Very First Chicken
By Douglas Rees
Picture Book
This is a storytime favorite! A Tyrannosaurus Rex squares off with a sassy chicken named Edna who refuses to be eaten. There’s definitely an opportunity for some funny voices in this one.
Tiny Dino
By Deborah Freedman
Picture Book
This is a 2022 release that we librarians really like: it strikes a nice balance of being educational and entertaining. A hummingbird is excited to learn that he’s a relative of the dinosaurs. The book shows similarities between modern-day animals and their prehistoric ancestors.
Am I Yours?
By Alex Latimer
Picture Book
This is a cute book about a lost egg. Different kinds of dinosaurs talk to the egg and try to determine if it’s their baby by describing their various features (i.e.: do you have three horns? Do you have plates along your spine?). The illustrations are bright and kid-friendly.
Dinosaur Books for 6–8
Dinosaur Cove series
By Rex Stone
Intermediate Book
Two boys find an opening that leads them to a prehistoric world! In each book they encounter a different kind of dinosaur, escape from danger, and occasionally help out when the dinos themselves are in peril. Each book is only around 70 pages with large text and black-and-white illustrations on every page, making these a quick read for early chapter book readers.
Dinosaur Books for 8–12
The Ark Plan
By Laura Martin
Junior Fiction
This is essentially Jurassic World for kids. After dinosaurs were cloned, humans are forced to live in underground compounds to protect themselves. The main character’s dad has disappeared, and clues to his whereabouts lead her up to the surface. Lots of action-packed sequences escaping the jaws of some terrifying foes in this dystopian future.
Knights vs. Dinosaurs
By Matt Phelan
Junior Fiction
A Camelot knight is bragging about all the dragons he’s defeated, so the wizard Merlin sends him and his friends on a quest to defeat a different kind of giant lizard: dinosaurs! They joust with Triceratops, have a mace battle with an ankylosaur, and stage a mountaintop rescue against a Pterodactyl. This is a fun hybrid book with text and illustrations.
Dactyl Hill Squad
By José Daniel Older
Junior Fiction
What would make learning about the history of the Civil War more interesting? Dinosaurs, of course! In this alternate history, humans coexist with dinosaurs. The story follows a group of kids in the North learning to ride pterodactyls and plotting to take down the villain who kidnapped their friends.
Science Comics | Dinosaurs: Fossils and Feathers
By M.K. Reed and Joe Flood
Junior Nonfiction
These science comics are a colorful, visual feast! This book tells about early discovery of dinosaur fossils and the rivalries between various scientists, but also with tons of information about when dinosaurs were alive and how human knowledge of them developed over time. The format is enthralling, which is fabulous for reluctant readers or readers who don’t typically gravitate towards nonfiction.
Written by Molly, Children’s Assistant Librarian
