How To Raise A Happy Genius

Ten Little Dinosaurs, by Mike Brownlow and Simon Rickerty, is the story of (unsurprisingly!) ten little dinosaurs who get separated from each other in all sorts of strange and interesting ways, only to be re-united at the end of the book. It is told in rhyming couplets, and with plenty of opportunity for a child to interact with the story. The book is 25x28cm (10x11in) in size and features full-page illustrations to accompany the text on each page (see below).

Basic Book Information: ISBN: 978-1408334010; Date of Publication: October 2015; Recommended Retail Price (RRP): £6.99/US$6.99; Number of pages: 32. To purchase in the UK, click here. To purchase in the USA, click here.

What Age Of Child Is It Aimed At? This book is aimed at children between about three and five. Children at the younger end of this range will just like the story and the pictures, while those at the older end will enjoy counting backwards and working out how many dinosaurs are left after each mishap the group of young dinosaurs encounter.

How Long Will It Take To Read? This book will take you approximately three minutes to read, but be prepared as you are likely to be asked to read it several times in a row!

What I Like About This Book? This book is very well written (and all the rhymes actually work!) with great drawings that almost every child will love. It is also a great size for reading to a child while they are sat beside you, or curled up on your lap. Ten Little Dinosaurs provides a great counting element as each page counts down from ten until only one dinosaur is left. I haven’t come across any other picture books that work backwards with numbers like this, and it is a great introduction to the idea of subtraction in arithmetic. The counting element also allows the child to interact with the story by shouting out the number of dinosaurs that are left, at the appropriate point. This may take a bit of encouragement (and counting on fingers!), but it is great to watch their face light up as they work out how many dinosaurs are left after each one disappears, and then shout out the number. After a few reads through the book, they will start to get the hang of it, and will be able to work it out on their own.

What Core Life Skills Will It Help Develop? As well as helping to develop verbal and reading skills, this books also helps with numeracy, and particularly subtraction, as well as providing an introduction to the subject of dinosaurs (which is always a good stepping stone into science).

Are There Other Books By The Same Author? Yes. To date, there are three other books in the same series: Ten Little Pirates, Ten Little Princesses and Ten Little Monsters. All of them are of equally high quality and follow the same ‘counting backwards’ pattern within the story with mishaps based around each book’s general theme. You can find details of these, and other books by this pair of authors by clicking here (UK-based parents) or here (USA-based parents), and you can find out more about Mike Brownlow by clicking here, and his co-author Simon Rickerty by clicking here.

Links To Purchase This Book

To Purchase In The UK

To Purchase In The USA

About The Author: This post was written by Colin Drysdale, the creator of How To Raise A Happy Genius.

The links contained in this post are affiliate links. This means that we will receive a small commission for each purchase made after clicking on a link. This allows us to run this website and provide the information it contains free of charge. If you don’t want us to receive this commission, simply visit your preferred online store directly and search for the product there.