"Dino Doodles" is quite neatly pre-empting the expected dino-mania that will undoubtedly explode around Pixar's new upcoming movie "The Good Dinosaur" which imagines a world where the cataclysmic event that wiped out the dinosaurs squillions of years ago actually didn't happen.
In "Dino Doodles" you're in control, and it's up to you to join in with the book's core themes of exploring a world where dinosaurs and humans live shoulder to shoulder (or should that be big stomping dino foot to squishy human body).
Now, we don't often extol the virtues of drawing in lovely books but it's positively encouraged here, so grab your pens and pencils, your crayons and pastels, your paints and of course the truckload of stickers included with the book and get creative in a comic way, drawing up new characters, stories and situations with the aid of the book's panelled layouts.
"How it all began" - Time to brush up on your (pre)history! |
Each page features tons of opportunity for doodling fun, whether you're a quick scribbler or a fine artist, or even love a bit of collage work.
Human slaves in a dino nation? AIEEEEE! |
There's tons of humour in the book to give you some great ideas on how your very own dino epic can unfold. The book is helpfully spiral bound (with a protective cover so pages won't be torn out accidentally) - Helpfully allowing you to lay the book out flat for optimum sketching and sticking.
We'd love to see more books in this range exploring other topics and themes. Sometimes the scribbly illustrations were a bit hit and miss but the aim is to get kids being creative, not intimidate them with picture-perfect artwork, so it's a great idea.
Charlotte's favourite bit: Coming up with new reasons for the near-extinction of the dinosaurs (a giant donut from space crashing into the earth! SQUISH!)
Daddy's favourite bit: One of those activity books that I couldn't help sneaking off with. Perfect for would-be comic creators, particularly dinosaur obsessed ones like us
"Dino Doodles"
Written and Illustrated by Thomas Flintham
Published by Templar Publishing
Release Date (Hardback Spiral Bound): 1st October 2015