How Dinosaurs Really Work by Alan Snow (Simon and Schuster Children's Books)

Simon and Schuster kindly sent us a copy of their latest Alan Snow book to review, and here it is. What could be more exciting than a sumptuous hard-back 'how things work' book? Judging by the reaction this got from Charlotte when we opened the parcel, not much! We're familiar with Alan Snow's excellent series of books like "How Santa Really Works" and "How Cats Really Work" so we knew what to expect - a lot of laughs, some great educational stuff and some extremely interesting factoids about those great big stomping lizards that once roamed the earth.

Every kid seems to have a favourite dinosaur (Charlotte loves the Triceratops but also loves the bigger scarier dinosaurs like T-Rex - unless she encounters one at an animatronic display at the Natural History Museum!) so they'll enjoy seeing 'how they work' and also learning a few real facts about their lives, what they ate and how much poo they produced on an average day.

Books like this are an excellent jumping-off point for kids who haven't yet enjoyed dinosaur displays at their local museums so when half term rolls around, drop by The Strolling Mum's blog and you'll certainly find more than one or two great trips out where we've been to museums and dino displays.

Charlotte's best bit: Surprisingly, it was the timeline of life at the front of the book - seeing how we evolved from 'bugs' and turned into humans via sea creatures and other interesting life forms.

Daddy's favouite bit: The 'cutaway' Dinosaur diagrams. Great fun!