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Blog Tour: The Dinosaur Department Store

Today it is our stop on The Dinosaur Department Store Blog Tour and we are delighted to be sharing our thoughts on this fantastic new picture book with you. Written by Lily Murray and vibrantly illustrated by Richard Merritt, we are sure this read aloud romp of a story will get you and your little bookworms giggling!


This book is particularly appropriate for the Mini Reviewers at the moment as not a day goes by without us having a discussion about acquiring a pet. Poppy in particular would love a cat, a dog or even a unicorn. Having read The Dinosaur Department Store, I now consider myself lucky as a parent that she hasn't set her heart on something a little more ferocious!

The Dinosaur Department Store features four year old Eliza Jane, who just like my Mini Reviewers wants a pet, but not just any old pet. Eliza Jane wants a prehistoric pet, a dinosaur! Now, kudos to Eliza Jane's parents, as despite their reservations they "swallowed their fears, put on a brave face" as they take a tour of The Dinosaur Department Store. I'm not sure I'd be quite so accommodating under the circumstances!

The store is filled with a vast and colourful array of dinosaurs, which are immediately recognisable to any dino fan, young or old. Eliza Jane certainly has a difficult choice to make. Will she choose a huge stomping sauropod, a colossal diplodocus or my personal favourite, Ms Tyrannosaurus with her pink skin, hair bow and "bone-crunching bite!" 


However, if you closely follow mischievous Eliza Jane through the book's illustrations, you will see that she has an entirely different plan up her sleeve and instead of taking one dinosaur home, she lets all of them loose!


This is such a fun and witty story and its rhythmic, rhyming text makes it perfect for reading aloud. It is also so refreshing to see a feisty girl feature as the central character in a book all about dinosaurs because so many little girls really do love dinosaurs! Finally, if like me you struggle with the pronunciation of all those tongue-twisty dino names, do not despair, there is a helpful guide at the back of the book.

Thank you to the publisher, Buster Books, for our copy of this book and for inviting us to take part in the Blog Tour. The Dinosaur Department Store is out now!


6 comments:

  1. This sounds like a fun book. We like a feisty heroine :)

    I have a friend whose son wanted a dog so they 'practised' getting up and going for walks three times a day. After just two days he changed his mind because it was such hard work ;)

    #ReadWithMe

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  2. This is a book that my nephew would adore, at 7 he is still utterly obsessed with dinosaurs :) thanks for sharing with #readwithme

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  3. This sounds a lovely tale for little ones. My boys used to enjoy dinosaur books when they were younger #readwithme

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  4. This looks like a lot of fun and I appreciate the idea of helping with those long dinosaur names. Dinosaurs never go out of fashion it seems. Your post reminded me of when my son said he wanted to adopt a snow leopard and I said OK only to realise he wanted us to keep it in our barn! #ReadWithMe

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  5. I think my nephew would love this one as he's fascinated by dinosaurs. I bet a dog or cat doesn't sound so bad after reading this!

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  6. Dinosaur books are always popular in our house, I like the sound of this one and the illustrations look great #readwithme

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