I missed last week’s post due to Kidquake, the elementary school program of the Litquake Literary Festival in San Francisco. We wrangled about 800 kids, plus their teachers and chaperones through four assemblies, 10 workshops, and hundreds of books. All FREE for registered classes. And only one fire alarm pulled by a particularly exuberant child. Victory! Here are a couple of pics:
Waiting for classes to arrive
“Sshhhhhh! Be very, very quiet!” say the Greeks. Yes, that’s the Trojan horse! performance workshop
Our stellar authors/illustrators included Jim Averbeck (TREVOR), Mitali Perkins (BETWEEN US & ABUELA), Larissa Theule (BORN TO RIDE: THE STORY OF BICYCLE FACE), Simone Shin (NIKO DRAWS A FEELING), Ellen Klages (OUT OF LEFT FIELD), Diana Toledano (POLLY DIAMOND AND THE MAGIC BOOK), Rajani LaRocca (MIDSUMMER’S MAYHEM), and K-Fai Steele (NOODLEPHANT).
Now, back to our regularly scheduled perfect picture book. And what a recommendation I have for you this week! Once again, I was wandering through the library and this book leapt off the shelf and whispered, “Take me home!” So I did.
Are you ready for adventure? Enjoy solving puzzles? Want to interact with a book on every page?
EXPRESS DELIVERY FROM DINOSAUR WORLD has it all. You don’t even have to like dinosaurs to fall in love with this exquisitely illustrated/designed book. Starting with a message from the past:
“When you opened this book, you stepped into our world—the mysterious world of dinosaurs. We are the creatures of the Cretacious, before history began….We’ve made this dinosaur book as a record of what it was like. It is our gift to you, in the future…. “
On your journey, you will take 10 adventures, from exploring the forest of illusion:
Text/Illustrations ⓒYanan Dong
to navigating a maze, finding a hidden pterosaur, making your own dinosaurs using multiple lift-the-flaps, finding a hidden camera, spotting the differences between two images, finding a baby raptor in 18 lift-the-flap dinosaur eggs, figuring out which dinosaur swallowed a little girl named Dongdong…and then! then we get to the most brilliant interactive page of all.
A “flashlight” illuminates the insides of the guilty dinosaur, so you can find Dongdong and help her escape.
Then on to one more game where you’re challenged to guess the artists who painted a series of dinosaur eggs in their signature style. After you’ve guessed, you can lift the flaps to reveal the dino artists behind the egg paintings.
Here’s one of my favorites:
Text/Illustrations ⓒYanan Dong
Text/Illustrations ⓒYanan Dong
The ending wraps up the adventure with a call to action, saying:
“…there’s so much more we don’t know [about dinosaurs], about how they lived, and what they were like. We can dream up the parts we don’t know, can’t we? There are so many possibilities just waiting to be imagined.”
This book is the perfect springboard for the imagination.
Resources/Activities:
Pair this book with THE BIG BOOK OF DINOSAURS (DK), NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC KIDS ULTIMATE DINOPEDIA, or LEARN TO DRAW DINOSAURS (Peter Pauper Press).
Make a flying pterodactyl.
Study the work of an artist and then paint a dinosaur egg in their style.
Make your own maze, and see how long it takes someone else to navigate through it.
TITLE: Express Delivery From Dinosaur World
AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR: Yanan Dong
TRANSLATOR: Helen Wang
PUBLISHER: Candied Plums, 2016 (English edition)
AGES: 4+
THEMES: Adventure, dinosaurs, interactive elements
For more perfect picture book recommendations, visit Susanna Hill’s blog.
Jilanne Hoffmann 
Ho-lee crap, this is unlike any PB I’ve ever seen. It takes readers all over the place and I love it!
MUST! HAVE!
LOL, I like your enthusiasm! I’m sure that the production cost for this book was far higher than a standard PB, although it’s still only $18.99, the standard 32-page PB price these days.
Well, that seems like a fair price to me.
My son would have loved this book when he was a child. He loved dinosaurs and anything with a quest. I can imagine him, and other dinosaur lovers, poring over this book again & again.
It’s interesting that I keep re-opening the book, only to find more on each page. Love how it keeps revealing more treasures. So yes, I can see kids spending LOTS of time with this book.
What an awesome find, Jilanne. I know a few kids who will love this book! Thanks.
The library is filled with so many treasures waiting to be discovered!
One library in my library system was daring enough to add this book to their collection. Can’t wait to take a look or two or three.
I missed you last week. Glad to learn that you were off sharing books and authors with kids.
I know! I couldn’t believe the library had this book, either. And it’s in amazing condition. So those who are reading it are being respectful of its beauty. I missed being here, too, but I just couldn’t wedge in any more activity last week. Litquake/Kidquake is grueling, but stimulating! And so much fun! A quote from one jaded 5th grader: “This was so much more fun than I thought it was going to be!” LOL. We made an impression!
My great grandsons would love this book. Have never seen anything quite like it. So much for kids to do and the illustrations are gorgeous! Great Christmas gift.
Oh, yes! This book has special gift written all over it. They will love it!
What a fun book. Like going on a dinosaur adventure. Kids will just love this. Very cool. Must check out if it’s in our libraries down here yet.
I hope they have it!