Dinosaur dig! by Penny Dale

Noisy Crow, 2011. ISBN 978 0 85763 006 3.
(Ages 6-8) Picture book. A different counting book with 10 dinosaurs digging a hole, with 10 different pieces of machinery is presented in this vibrant picture book. On each double page is a dinosaur and a piece of machinery doing something which requires lots of words to describe their actions. As each page turns, another dinosaur and piece of machinery appears, adding up to 10. The repetitive nature of each page makes it a shoe-in for kids joining in and predicting what will happen next. Each page also has a series of wonderful doing words which kids will be able to emulate and use to make appropriate noises.
Altogether a great sharing book for a group of kids and an adult reader. The endpapers cover each of the dinosaurs used in the book, with their correct names and realistic drawings, while the other end features the machinery with again the correct names and realistic drawings. Kids will learn the correct names for both dinosaurs and machinery from this picture book.
The climax to the story will have kids laugh out loud at the dinosaurs and what they intend to do with the hole that they have dug. An odd combination of things, but kids will lap it up.
Fran Knight