Lately, I’ve had dinos on the brain. Luckily, as a youth librarian, I’m not alone — after all, kids and dinosaurs go together like mac and cheese! I try to have some fun dino books ready for those eager kids looking to get a little closer to what our planet was like eons ago.

I Know Dino!: Amazing Breakthroughs, Mega Mistakes, and Unsolved Mysteries in Dinosaur Science by Sabrina Ricci and Garret Kruger uses paleontology to show us that science changes over time, and being wrong is a natural part of that process. Each dinosaur featured has a “First Impressions” section with initial discoveries, theories and artistic renderings, followed by a “What We Know Now” section with up-to-date information and paleoart. The page layouts are intuitive, the pictures are engaging, and most of the text is blocked into easy-to-consume chunks. It’s a great book for a middle grade dino enthusiast.

Quick, think of a chicken! Guess what? You’re thinking about a dinosaur. That’s the premise behind The Chick-o-saurus by Kelly Crull. We start with an egg hatching. Piece by piece, a dinosaur emerges, but what kind is it? A mighty diplodocus? A speedy velociraptor? Across vibrantly colored pages and rollicking text, we learn that some of the most recognizable parts of the humble chicken are also found in its very distant ancestors — dinosaurs! Chick-o-saurus encourages questioning, observation and laughter. So far, it’s one of my favorite read-alouds this year.

Even the littlest kids can be dino fans! The interactive board book Dinosaur’s Wobbly Bottom by Kit Frost, illustrated by Sam Rennocks, has sliding parts to make our favorite dinosaurs stomp, flap and wiggle to the rhythm of simple rhyming words. This book may get us closer to giggles than to the reality of our prehistoric world, but I think it’s worth pointing out that dinosaurs gave rise to modern birds, and birds are notoriously good dancers. Therefore, it is entirely possible that at least some dinosaurs may indeed have wiggled their bottoms! 

This article was originally published in Little Village’s May 2026 issue.