100 Books Like Dinosaur Art

Honestly, I think I’ve read almost every book Mary Pope Osborne wrote.

When my son was little, he loved these books. One of the first chapter books he picked up at a local bookstore was Dinosaurs Before Dark. I love how her books are a cross between nonfiction and fiction. Her two main characters drew me (and my son) into the story. We read Dinosaurs Before Dark together. 

My son and I learned a lot about dinosaurs. We loved how the main characters travel in the Magic Treehouse. Dinosaurs Before Dark was the first book from this author. My son is grown up now, and we still remember reading most of her books. 

When I first read this book, it was a chapter book. I recently discovered the same book as a graphic novel. I love the illustrations. 

This is a book for all ages.

It’s a beautifully illustrated picture book about the life of Barnum Brown. He worked as a paleontologist for the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, and he discovered the first documented skeleton of the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

The book is nonfiction. It focuses on his life growing up, the T-rex skeleton, and his other dinosaur discoveries. His parents named him after P.T. Barnum, the famous circus icon. His story is delightful, and what makes it more appealing are the numerous dinosaur drawings included in the book. 

I, like many kids and adults, love dinosaurs. I also like reading lively stories that teach me about dinosaurs and science. The illustrations stand out, and the story is about a real person who did amazing things. While reading the book and afterwards, I became a fan of Barnum Brown. I had no idea who… show more.

Lately, I’m hearing and reading news about recent dinosaur discoveries. It never gets old!

The author obviously loves dinosaurs and science. The writing is informative and never dull. It’s a primer for kids, ages 7 to 12, who want to learn about dinosaur history and science. I loved the author’s enthusiasm for his subjects. He works as a paleontologist and enjoys sharing information about new discoveries.

This book came out a few years ago. It shows the link between dinosaurs and birds. Prior to this, I didn’t know dinosaurs had feathers. The author presents facts about dinosaurs that are easy to understand and appreciate. He’s enthusiastic about dinosaurs, and his enthusiasm is carried throughout the book.

This book introduces children to an assortment of dinosaurs and the famous female paleontologists who discovered them. This is a book for K-2. It’s a great introduction to the world of paleontology. 

This is a book filled with easy-to-understand facts about dinosaurs, and I love G. Brian Karas’ illustrations. It provides readers with a good understanding of paleontology and may even spark some with an interest in becoming a paleontologist. 

So often we find popular level dinosaur books with the most ridiculous and inaccurate illustrations. Usually, the fault lies with the middle-man – the children’s writer or the artist. In this book, we have an instance that is, luckily, becoming more common – the academic who has the skills to communicate directly with the general audience. Dr. Witton has the experience of studying fossil animals (pterosaurs are his specialty) and in his book demonstrates how the various aspects of his work command an accurate approach to his artwork (he is a superb artist). Any speculation in his book is based on his sound observations – who would have guessed that the keratinous covering of the horns of Triceratops continued to grow throughout life and so the horny sheaths would have produced weird curly structures like those of elderly sheep?

Although this book is only 16 pages long, it tells a story that could easily have been a novel, which is that she is capable of condensing something so dense down to so few words without making it feel like anything was left out. Here we see a rather fantastical time travel tale, but one that, although at first seems quite light-hearted, ends up being one of the darkest of such tales I've ever read...and the most thought-inducing.

I loved this book and have a very difficult time reviewing it without giving too much away, but if you've got a spare thirty minutes (you know, for you slow readers), I'd highly suggest you pick this one up immediately.

While there are of course other books with more and better textual content, this book is an impressive work of pop-up art. I particularly like pop-up of the perennially favorite T. Rex, which quite literally jumps out of the book at you as you turn the page. Very well done.

This book is great for those who want a more exhaustive reference book. This is one of several good dictionaries of dinosaurs and related terms. It is illustrated in black and white, but the text predominates, and as such it serves as a reliable reference for facts about dinosaurs, including many that are not found in mass-produced gift books. I also like that it includes the etymology of entries. It’s a little old (1983), but was awarded several honors, including being a Golden Kite Honor Book, and ALA Notable Book, and a Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor Book.

From the lizard-looking Dimetrodon to the wooly mammoth to the 1,000-pound turtle-like Glyptodont, as well as the modern-day Latimeria fish species that was believed to have gone extinct millions of years ago (Surprise! It turned up in a fisherman’s net!), puts this book in the “must-read” category. A bouncy rhyming text that highlights large creatures that roamed the Earth both before and alongside dinosaurs, makes this book a win, especially since it lands at a modern-day avian dinosaur that can be seen in tweety parakeet.

The best seller of all time, a lively romp through dinosaur research (and researchers).

This is for all readers, and you’ll be hooked by the lively, pacy text by Steve, as he hurtles from continent to continent, digging up bones from China to Poland, working on Tyrannosaurus rex and other great beasts in the basements of the world’s museums, and sharing with readers what it’s like to be a working paleontologist.

For aspiring young bone-diggers, this is an inspiration, although it’s not like this all the time: paleontologists also sometimes have to mark student essays and fight with university systems to get their field trip costs refunded!