Books for the Dinosaur-Obsessed Kids

A Little Bit of Dinosaur Series

Popular Dinosaur Books Series - OVER 2.3 Million Reads!

Do you need a perfect gift for the dino fans in your family? They are Jurassic Park and Jurassic World fans? Look no farther! This book series has fourteen different dinosaurs, great imaginative play, and besides that, it’s a proven winner.

★ “…entertaining tale… A science-centric winner, especially for young dinosaur lovers.” Kirkus starred review

“…an engaging scientific concept… bright, comical cartoon artwork…” School Library Journal

• Over 2.3 Million Reads on EPIC!
• 2021 Arkansiana Award from the Arkansas Library Association
• 2021 Eureka! Nonfiction Honor book, California Reading Assn.

There’s no doubt that young children know dinosaurs. A friend once asked if the names of dinosaurs were too hard for kids to read or understand. No! Kids LOVE to learn these exotic names, it’s part of the imaginative play that makes dinosaurs so much fun.

A Little Bit of Dinosaur, Book 1

Introducing a hilarious and educational book, A Little Bit of Dinosaur by Elleen Hutcheson and Darcy Pattison, with delightful illustrations by John Joven. 

Did you know that the calcium atom in your jawbone may have once been a part of a T. rex? It's all thanks to that cheese sandwich your mother fed you. This amusing tale follows the journey of a calcium atom from the bones of a T. rex to your very own jawbone and beyond.

Inspired by Aldo Leopoldo's classic environmental book, A Sand County Almanac, this story illustrates the interconnection between humans and nature. The amazing circle of life, or the conservation of mass, is presented in a humorous and empathetic way.

Sisters Elleen Hutcheson and Darcy Pattison have collaborated to bring Leopoldo's teachings to young readers. As they wonder why their mother fed them that cheese sandwich, kids will learn about the incredible circle of life and how we are all connected.

A Little Bit of THIS Dinosaur, Book 2

Did you know that you have a little bit of dinosaur in you?

And it’s your brother’s fault. That egg fight meant there were only two eggs left and one of them had a carbon atom that used to be in the bones of a Spinosaurus.

This humorous story follows a carbon atom as it journeys from dry bones to your spinal column – and beyond! 

A Little Bit of THIS Dinosaur continues the playful humor around the amazing circle of life—or the conservation of mass—and adds a touch of empathy.

A Little Bit of THAT Dinosaur, Book 3

Have you ever caught a peanut in your mouth and wondered where it came from? This hilarious tale follows a nitrogen atom from the bones of a Hadrosaurus to your very own skull and beyond. And it's your cousin's fault.

This new installment of A Little Bit of Dinosaur series continues to explore the circle of life and the conservation of mass through the lens of prehistoric dinosaurs. 

Books Based on Facts

A Little Bit of Dinosaur series is based on dinosaur fossils in Colorado, Tunisia, New Jersey, and other locations? In other words, the stories are based in fact, fossils of different dinosaurs found on Earth. 

Each story is scientifically possible. There are Tyrannosaurus Rex fossils in Colorado, near the headwaters of the Arkansas River. It is POSSIBLE that a calcium atom from a T. rex would find its way to the Arkansas River and travel across the North American continent. It is possible that the calcium atom that used to be in a dinosaur could be in the water that irrigates a field of corn, which is fed to a cow. The cow’s milk COULD have calcium from that long-ago T. rex. And when the milk is made into cheese and your mom cooks you a cheese sandwich – well, it is scientifically possible that you could have a little bit of dinosaur in your bones!

This realistic feature of the stories makes it even more fun. What other “little bits of dinosaurs” could be in your body? It sets kids up for some great imaginative play.

Fun, Humorous Books for Children – Imaginative Play 

The appeal of being part dinosaur is huge. Previous dinosaur stories, dinosaur books, and dinosaur toys have played upon a child’s love of dinosaur. But A Little Bit of Dinosaur series takes it a step farther to let kids imagine becoming a dinosaur. A fun activity—after reading this series—is to let kids draw themselves with dinosaur parts. Great fun! 

Environmental Topics

To tackle environmental topics with younger kids, these dinosaur books are an excellent choice. Climate changes are hard concepts for young children, but you can start to introduce important topics even in elementary school.

One of the main ways to do this is to think about cycles in nature. Technically, this is the idea of conservation of mass. The conservation of mass theory means that matter (which is what everything is made of) cannot be created or destroyed, only changed from one form to another. For example, if you have a piece of bread and you toast it, the bread doesn't disappear, it just changes into a different form (toast). This is true for everything in the world - even when things seem to disappear, they are just changing into something else. It's like magic, but it's really science!

Scientists today are concerned with cycles of matter changing from one form to another. In Book 1, A Little Bit of Dinosaur, the logical cycle was the calcium cycle because we know about dinosaurs from fossils of their bones. Remember your mother telling you to drink your milk because it would help grow strong bones? Even fossil bones have a lot of calcium.

So the first story takes a calcium atom on a journey from a T. rex fossil to your jawbone.

For Book 2, A Little Bit of THIS Dinosaur, we went to the carbon cycle, one of the most important cycles for environmental study. Without getting technical, the carbon cycle is involved in global warming. We looked for an interesting dinosaur, the Spinosaurus, which has been found in Tunisia in an area that was once under water, but is not part of the Sahara Desert.

Book 3, A Little Bit of THAT Dinosaur turns to the nitrogen cycle, another important cycle in nature. This time, we wanted to feature a different sort of dinosaur fossil, so we looked fossils of dinosaur eggs and featured the Hadrasaurus. 

A Little Bit of Dinosaur series isn’t meant to discuss environmental issues directly. But it gives parents and teachers a way to talk about one of the foundation of environmental science, the cycles of nature.

Dinosaurs featured in the books – 14 different dinosaurs

• Tyrannosaurus Rex
• Brachiosaurus
• Stegosaurus
• Velociraptor
• Apatosaurus
• Spinosaurus
• Utahraptor
• Diplodocus
• Triceratops
• Hadrosaurus
• Archaeopteryx
• Ankylosaurus
• Iguanodon
• Gigantosaurus

 Which would you like to become?

(SECRET: One dino was repeated. When you read the books, can you find which one?)         

Add these fun educational gifts for your young paleontologist. They’ll love these books!