Gigantosaurus by Jonny Duddle (Templar Publishing)

Jonny Duddle is a piratical master of mischief, he's also a space-faring superstar but what happens when Mr Duddle turns his attention to prehistoric times, and all things dino-shaped?

The answer is "Gigantosaurus" - a new book from this immensely talented writer/illustrator. We meet four little dino-kids called Bonehead, Fin, Tiny and Bill who wander the prehistoric plains in search of fun. Their parents warn them about a fearsome beast, the Gigantosaurus - the largest dinosaur of all, who will eat practically anything, particularly little dinos.

Bonehead offers to act as a lookout to keep the others safe - But Bonehead turns out to be "The Dinosaur That Cried Wolf" as he keeps playing tricks on his friends, making them scurry for cover for a bit of a giggle.

But what is that menacing shadow in the distance? Who does that spiny tail belong to? Bonehead might not be the brilliant look out he's cracked up to be!

Jonny Duddle has once again come up trumps with a brilliant story, artwork to die for and a whole parcel of fascinating Dino-facts crammed into this gorgeous hardback book. One (dino) bone of contention though is the amazing fold-out cover. We're so fussy about our books that we couldn't possibly bear to take the cover off, unfold it, and display the absolutely fantastic Gigantosaurus poster on the wall - as brilliant as it is! Cool idea though (and we did enjoy the surprise fold-out later on in the actual book itself, so that sort of compensates a bit!)

I think the only bit we were a tiny microscopic bit disappointed about was the lack of cameos of other characters from Jonny's books. We've come to expect characters creeping into each others stories, but none here - unless we completely missed them (which we obviously did, thanks anonymous commenter! We need to pick up our visual scanning!)

Pretty much everything JD turns his hand to is brilliant, we really cannot wait to see what he comes up with next.

Charlotte's best bit: Arguing with Daddy over which dinosaur was hiding in a hollowed-out log (Charlotte won!)

Daddy's Favourite bit: Sumptuous artwork that had me cracking out a magnifying glass to figure out JUST HOW HE DOES IT! (failed miserably, he's just too durned good is Mr D!)

(Kindly sent to us for review by Templar Publishing)