As you can probably imagine, my kids have grown up around books. They’ve read everything from Dr. Seuss to The Runaway Bunny–and most possible permutations in-between. When they discovered dino books, the experience opened up intriguing new possibilities for them. They were fascinated by the “real-life” stories of the fossil remains, but they quickly imagined possible adventures, struggles, even fights!
Dino books do much more than just spark their fertile imaginations, though. Here are 5 top ways that reading dino books will likely start you on your way to further book adventures.
- Fun and Zany: You may think of Dr. Seuss when you think “fun” or “wacky” but dino books offer their fair share of zany characters (including the ever-popular Cat-in-the-Hat Learning book: Oh, Say Can You Say Di-no-saur?). Just look at I Love You Stinky Face, the How Do Dinosaurs… series, and Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs! (These are among the personal favorites of my two sons).
- Cross-Generational: Dino books offer something for every age group. Still, they also allow readers to progress to more advanced reading levels, often driven forward by their fascination with the dino content!
- Facts and Figures: There may be a lot of information in there, but readers are willing to wade through some of the more “dry” (or boring) text because the idea of the historical dinosaur is so fascinating. That’s something that we all must learn to do (as students).
- Memorization: The challenge and fun of learning the complicated words related to the dino names, periods, and all the other related vocabulary is a valuable experience for any reader. The complicated words and archaeological connections associated with the study of dinosaurs not only offer endless possibilities for critical thinking and exploration.
- History: Reading (and studying) dinosaur books also unearth fascinating realities about history and knowledge–some of which are in flux as discoveries are unearthed every day. As readers, we learn about the mutability of history while we hold fast to the facts…