*I was sent a book in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own.

I love how most little boys seem to go through a dinosaur stage at some point in their early childhood. I think dinosaurs are fascinating and I love when kids take a natural interest in a subject that can so quickly and easily adapt play into being educational. Dinosaur Train is a PBS show that combines trains and dinosaurs (two super popular interests for toddlers and preschoolers) into an educational show that doesn’t just teach children about dinosaurs but also basic concepts of science. Drew is going on 3 years old and recently took an interest in Dinosaur Train. He’s also interested in the alphabet right now, and regularly will point to a letter and either tell me what he thinks it is or ask what it is, so I thought that combining the alphabet with dinosaur train would be a perfect match for him right now.

We were recently sent the Dinosaur Train book from Random House Children’s Books called Dinosaurs A-Z. When the book came, I was excited to see how durable the book was, it’s a pretty good sized book, but the pages are really thick like a baby’s board book. This is great for toddlers and preschoolers who are too old for the subject matter in typical board books, but who aren’t yet gentle enough for thin pages. It just seemed like a really durable, quality book. The content is great, too. Each page focuses on one letter and lists a dinosaur type that begins with that letter. Each page has a world map and the map will be colored in in the continent where the dinosaur lived. It also tells you which period that particular dinosaur lived in and some interesting info about the dinosaur type. I have to admit, I learned a bit myself in some of the pages. We tend to focus on a few select dinosaur types in popular culture such as the T-rex, Triceratops and Pterodactyl and I have to admit that I didn’t know much about the lesser known dinosaurs in this book.

Although I was happy to see how educational the book was, I wasn’t sure that it would hold 2.5 year old Drew’s attention for very long. It’s true that I couldn’t get him to sit down for the entirety of the book, but I was surprised how far we did get, and how much he did seem to listen and understand. Also, seems how each page starts fresh with a new dinosaur, you don’t feel like you have to read it chronologically which is great for small attention spans.

Seems how the book has so much information, it is a great book for re-reading several times and I think that if we were to pack this book away and bring it out in six months or even two years and read it again, Drew would gain new information as we re-read it once he’s older, so it does a nice job of reaching across various ages. It has very limited parts that include anything from the show Dinosaur Train, so even dinosaur enthusiasts who feel they are too old for the show, could really enjoy the book.

On July 8th and 9th, PBS is airing a special called “Dinosaurs A-Z” that is designed to help kids practice the alphabet while learning about the diversity of dinosaurs, so it would be perfect to watch after reading this book.

This book can be purchased in lots of stores in person or online including Amazon.

Win it: A copy of Dinosaur Train Dinosaurs A To Z, a padded board book.

To enter: Fill out the GT form below before 11:59pm EST on 7/19.

Emily

Hi there! I am Emily Evert, the owner of Emily Reviews. I am 28 and live in a small town in Michigan with my boyfriend Ryan and our two pugs. I have a large family and I adore my nieces and nephews. I love reading memoirs, and learning about child development and psychology. I love watching The Game of Thrones, Teen Mom, Sister Wives and Veep. I like listening to Jason Isbell, John Prine, and other alt-country or Americana music. I created Emily Reviews as a creative outlet to share my life and the products that I love with others.

Follow Emily on Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram

www.emilyreviews.com/category/emily