Review: Buying, Training & Caring for Your Dinosaur

Summary: A hilarious guide to having a dinosaur . . . as a pet!

Dogs are delightful. Cats are cute. And fish are fun. But the best pet of all is . . . a DINOSAUR!

But how do you pick the dino that’s right for you? Spiky? Armored? Humongous? Pea-brained? Plant-eater? How do you take care of him once he’s (gulp!) home? How do you feed him, exercise him, take him to the vet, and give him a bath?! Not to mention train him, since he might like to chew on—er, swallow—Mom’s new shoes.

Full of little-known info and sage advice, this definitive guide to dino ownership is sure to thrill and delight kids everywhere! -- Knopf

From the title and cover alone, I just knew that Booking Son was going to love the new book BUYING, TRAINING & CARING FOR YOUR DINOSAUR by Laura Joy Rennert and illustrated by Marc Brown. While he's not exactly dinosaur crazy like lots of other preschoolers, he does relate to wanting a pet in our otherwise pet-free home. I had a feeling that he might get some ideas from reading this book, but I thought it was worth the chance because the story looked so darn cute.

Both of us thoroughly enjoyed this story, and we had a great time reading it together! While I'm pretty sure that all kids will laugh out loud at parts of this book, Booking Son definitely has the right sense of humor to appreciate it. He actually thought the sarcasm in the story was hilarious, and he kept trying to explain to me what the author really meant.

The book starts out by showing some of the different types of dinosaurs with definitions. While the definitions were loosely based on the creatures' size and traits; for the most part, these definitions were very just plain silly. They provided some funny explanations for the dinosaurs' personalities and behavior; and they helped to match up the best dinosaur for your family.

The next part of the book is the instructions on how to get ready to bring the dinosaur into your home. It includes basic command training and has lots of sarcastic advice for the future dinosaur owner. There are also instructions for exercising your Dino, taking him to school, and traveling with Dino. Needless to say, there are just lots of laughs on these pages.

The book ends on a sweet note -- that Dinos are for fun! There are various ideas for how children can make their dinosaurs happy and content. And best of all, there is a message that a dino is a kid's best friend!

As far as the pictures go, you can't go wrong with anything illustrated by Marc Brown. (Yes that Marc Brown of Arthur fame!) The pictures are just perfect for the story and definitely complement it. I especially loved all of the bright colors, but I think my son most liked how funny the pictures were. The illustrations of the play between the kids and the dinosaurs are very silly, and they do a great job of bringing the story to life.

Booking Son and I highly recommend BUYING,TRAINING & CARING FOR YOUR DINOSAUR! In fact, I can't wait to take it into his preschool and read it to his class.

Thanks to The Picnic Basket and the publisher for sending me a copy of this book.