Dinosaur Pirates, by Penny Dale | Book Review

The Children’s Book Review | November 18, 2016

Dinosaur Pirates

Written and Illustrated by Penny Dale

Age Range: 4 and up

Hardback: 32 pages

Publisher: Nosy Crow

ISBN: 978-0-7636-9330-5

What to expect: Dinosaurs, Pirates, Adventure, Rhyming

Dinosaurs have launched an attack on the seven seas!

In this delightful rhyming tale, a group of dinosaurs have become pirates in search of treasure on a secret island. Once they set sail, they begin plotting secret routes using their trustworthy maps and set a course for the treasure. But like any pirate crew, the dinosaurs have to scrub the decks and sleep on hammocks, their clawed feet dangling over the sides. Luckily they do come to the secret desert island and find their treasure! Alas, they are attacked by a surly crew of Velociraptors, leading to a pirate battle on the high seas. Thankfully our dinosaur heroes win, leaving the mean Velociraptors to swim to the desert island with their shark escorts (phew!). The dinosaurs are happy once more, singing long in to the night, Yo, ho, ho!

Penny Dale is the author and illustrator of several dinosaur books, and this delightful addition will please all children who love dinosaurs or pirates. The rhyming is cleverly done, making this a fun book to read over and again. Children will memorize the words in no time, making this a great book for pre-reading.

The illustrations are extremely intricate, and dinosaur enthusiasts will enjoy picking out which type of dinosaur each pirate is. The pirate ships and battle scenes are especially detailed. I loved how colorful the dinosaurs and their world were. The originality of the concept, dinosaurs sailing on a pirate ship, is a fun idea that immediately grabs children’s attention. You’ll find yourself reaching for this before bedtime many times, until everyone in the house is singing Yo, ho, ho!

Highly recommended.

Available Here: 

About the Author-Illustrator

Penny Dale is an internationally known best-selling children’s book artist and author and has sold more than five million books, with editions in more than twenty languages. She is married and has one adult daughter and a small grandson. She lives in England.

Dinosaur Pirates, by Penny Dale, was reviewed by Denise Mealy. Discover more books like Dinosaur Pirates by following along with our reviews and articles tagged with Adventure, Dinosaurs, Penny Dale, Picture Book, Pirates, and Rhyming Text.