One Little Dinosaur - Pip Williams and (illustrator) Richard Watson

Published by Two Windmills Limited: Woodbridge, UK, 2024.

I mean... dinosaurs! I love dinosaurs. So, what's not to love about this book?

One Little Dinosaur is a counting book, working its way from one up to ten, with each page introducing an increasingly large number of dinosaurs, with a descriptive adjective, involved in some sort of activity. "One little dinosaur counts ten spotty rocks," for example. Or, "Two smart dinosaurs with nine snazzy socks". There are bonus dinosaurs thrown in on one page, when "Nine dinosaurs roar and two dinosaurs wave," meaning that overall we get 57 dinosaurs.

What's not to love about that?

But, wait. There's more!

After counting up to ten dinosaurs, we get a double page spread with all of the dinosaurs in one image, along with the various activities that they were involved in, or creatures that they were interacting with. This is a great page to re-count the various dinosaurs, and look for the other creatures, such as dogs, snakes and frogs that have been previously encountered (all of which are anachronistic, if you hold to an evolutionary timeline). 

And then, there is another fun aspect to consider. Because not only is the book counting from one to ten, but it is also simultaneously counting from ten down to one! Our first little dinosaur is counting TEN dotty rocks. Our second two dinosaurs wear NINE snazzy socks. Etc.

It's quite cool, really, for a counting book. Going the extra mile. With dinosaurs.

So, what's not to love about that?


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