Now, I’ll admit, I wasn’t the biggest fan of dinosaurs until my daughter came along. She is a mini paleontologist. Now, however, I most certainly know my Parasaurolophus from my Pachyrhinosuarus! I’m sure you can all think of a child who loves dinosaurs. They are much-loved by many children. This bundle of ROARsome books will definitely get them reading, digging up facts and delving into science.

Let’s jump straight in to a book I discovered at my lovely local library!

This book is jam-packed with stunning images and snapshots of cracking information. Each page is a ready-made guided reading text, ripe for skimming and scanning to retrieve information.

For each dino, there is a double-page spread focussed on the inside and outside. I love this and it’s a great way to link the two aspects together.

Extra features at the back include this great visual timeline and great glossary. Fantastic to ensure understanding of vocabulary.

Continuing the exploration….. onward to:

Now, This book was long-awaited in our house! We are huges fans of The Atlas of Animal Adventures, so when we heard a dinosaur version was coming out, we were thrilled!!! We are most definitely NOT disappointed. It’s a dino-delight!

The book begins with a fab explanation of how the world looked in the different periods. The introduction has great balance between being highly informative and using specific terminology, and being clear and accessible.

Begin each adventure into the prehistoric by selecting a continent. What a great way to reinforce geographic knowledge through a topic children really love. It’s a great discussion starter to think about which dinosaurs are from where in the world.

The format for each dinosaur is a winner, I think. Each page has an inset labelled diagram, highlighted map and lots of informative captions. I love the illustration style. My 5 year old and I hunt out quirky little additions to the images, like napkins around carnivore’s necks! It make us giggle, but also opens up a lovely little inference conversation.

The book features both dinosaurs and prehistoric water creatures for you to discover and learn about. The numeric information could quite easily be used in a maths-based lesson, including reading retrieval skills. How about creating a table of the information from one of the double-page spreads?

This book is perfect inspiration for writing. Children could recreate their own page on a researched dinosaur. They can practise the use of factual adjectives and varied clause use, perfectly modelled for them in this text. It is great to have an inspiring example of informative text to share with as class.

Finally, an absolute joy of a book….

I have used Botanicum with my Y5 class, to great success and enjoyment. So discovering a dinosaur version of this museum series was just brilliant! It lives up to expectations on every level. I love the introduction, inviting you in to the museum. I certainly want to be transported and to marvel at what’s on offer.

We again see how the earth has changed on a map view. This is a great page to compare with the previous book. I love it when books make friends. It’s great for children to cross reference information from different sources.

The double-page explanations of each period are perfect for a reading lesson. The key to the plate is great to get children linking information.

Each section is just the right length and full of interest. I simply love the style of this book. But my favourite part are the beautifully retro illustrations. They are just stunning and intriguing! Perfect!

My favourite section, however, is the Hadrosaurs. We have a Parasaurolophus in our house called ‘Dave’ (Don’t ask!!). So this part just calls to us. It also makes me think of Julia Donaldson’s Duck-billed dinosaurs in  Tyrannosaurus Drip!

You can see that it tells you where the dinosaur is from. Another book to book opportunity with the Atlas of Dinosaur Adventures. Great stuff!

From cover to cover, a ROARsome book!

As we ponder on Non-Fiction for #NNFN , it’s a good time to remember that the format of these books offer many chances to further reading skills. Children need to practise navigating various text forms if they are to master understanding and getting everything they can from them. We must ensure we give them many chances to do this.

So go forth, Share the Non Fiction Book Love!!!!