Chihiro Takeuchi (text and illustrations), Whose Dinosaur Bones?, Berbay Publishing, September 2022, 32 pp., RRP $25.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781922610485
Whose dinosaur bones? features beautiful, bold and clear illustrations of dinosaurs and their bone structure. It’s created by Osaka based, award winning paper cut artist, Takeuchi.
The book follows a repeated pattern, with illustrated clues (bones, paw prints, preferred food) and just three prompting words – “Whose dinosaur bones?”, challenging the reader to guess which dinosaur they belong to, and then revealing the corresponding dinosaur’s image and its name.
The repetition of just a few words and the predictable pattern support comprehension for pre-schoolers. Its guessing game is also a terrific interactive element to keep these little ones engaged. Whilst the illustrations are informative in and of themselves, the last double spread page has short dinosaur fun facts, for readers who want a little more detail.
The general tone is upbeat with bright colours for page background and clear, bold illustration of the dinosaurs, as well as gorgeous endpapers of cute baby dinosaurs hatching.
The fascination with dinosaurs spans generations and this book is a terrific introduction to learning dinosaur names or to enjoy applying prior dinosaur knowledge to guessing the matching dinosaurs.
Recommended for 2-6 year olds. Teacher notes are available too.
Reviewed by Barbara Swartz
