Who doesn’t love dinosaurs? Almost all kids go through a “dinosaur phase” at some point, and some of us never quite grow out of it. We here at the Roarbots are big dino fans (obvs), and we’ve certainly not been shy about highlighting that love in the past.

The original Roarbots feature – Questions from a Kid – actually focused on those terrible lizards TWICE! Once with a chat with Dr. Michael Brett-Surman (Museum Specialist for Dinosaurs and other Fossil Reptiles at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History) and twice with Dr. Scott Sampson (Dr. Scott the Paleontologist).

And in case you didn’t know, the third Tuesday in May is International Dinosaur Day. So… many happy returns of the day!

To celebrate the big day, we’re rounding up some recent dino-themed books that would make great additions to your kids’ shelves.

If you’re looking for something more appropriate for an older reader, we heartily recommend Daniel José Older’s Dactyl Hill Squad and its sequel (Freedom Fire). This YA series posits a world in which dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures exist alongside humans. In 1863, during the height of the Civil War.

Dinosaur Atlas: Amazing Facts, Fold-Out Maps, and Life-Size Fossils

by Anne Rooney & James Gilleard (Lonely Planet Kids)

Good for ages 5-12

Lonely Planet, the venerable travel guide publisher, has recently branched out and started publishing some amazingly gorgeous non-travel guide books. If you haven’t taken a look at their offerings recently, do yourself a favor and do that now. You won’t be sorry.

Case in point is the ENTIRE Lonely Planet Kids imprint, which “combines astonishing facts, quirky humor, and eye-catching imagery to ignite children’s curiosity and encourage them to discover more about our planet.” And their Dinosaur Atlas is certainly up to that lofty task.

Don’t be fooled by the 32 pages mentioned in the book listing. Every other two-page spread actually open up and folds out to an enormous 4-panel spread, so the real page count here is more like 62 pages… of dinosaur facts, maps, photographs, illustrations, fossils, scientists, timelines, family trees, and pop-up flaps.

This is a fantastic introduction (and relatively deep dive) into the world of dinosaurs, paleontology, and scientific discoveries. Highly recommended.

Lonely Planet Kids also publishes Build Your Own Dinosaur Museum, which is an activity book where you get to play paleontologist and assemble five pop-up dinosaur models.

Dinosaurium

by Chris Wormell & Lily Murray (Big Picture Press)

Good for ages 8-12

The Welcome to the Museum series (from Templar Publishing/Big Picture Press) is an extraordinary nonfiction library of oversized books and equally oversized illustrations. The general idea is that these books present readers with a lavishly illustrated and impressively curated/researched book about a fictitious museum exhibition. Other titles include Historium, Animalium, Botanicum, and Planetarium, but Dinosaurium is why we’re here.

Dinosaurium transports you back millions of years and helps you “explore” museum galleries dedicated to various families of dinosaurs over the millennia. Some pages feature dioramas, some show skeletons and fossils, others show detailed family trees – but all of them sparkle with gorgeous illustrations and burst with information.

Complementary titles include a junior edition of Dinosaurium and an activity book.

Hattie & Hudson

by Chris Van Dusen (Candlewick Press)

Good for ages 3-8

This one’s kind of a cheat since it’s not REALLY a dinosaur. Technically, it’s a mythical lake monster, but it looks like a mix between a plesiosaurus and an apatosaurus. And it’s by Chris Van Dusen (who illustrated Kate DiCamillo’s Mercy Watson books, among others), so it’s gorgeous… and deserving of a spot here.

This picture book is a charming story of the friendship that develops between young Hattie and the lake monster she names Hudson after he emerges from the depths of the lake (to investigate the song she was singing). The entire town wants to trap and kill Hudson, so Hattie needs to come up with a plan to make everyone listen to her and realize that he’s actually kind and gentle.

Every page is a treat with Van Dusen’s beautiful illustrations, and if you don’t fall in love with Hudson and his adorable little face, we can’t be friends.

T. Veg: The Story of a Carrot-Crunching Dinosaur

by Smriti Prasadam-Halls & Katherina Manolessou (Abrams)

Good for ages 3-8

If you or your little ones have ever watched Dinosaur Train, you’ll be familiar with the conceit here: T. Rex doesn’t want to eat meat and struggles to fit in. Except in T. Veg, our mighty protagonist (Reginald) is only interested in eating fruits and vegetables. Much to the dismay of his friends and family.

He’s eventually forced out of the herd and goes in search of a new life as a herbivore, which turns out to be much more difficult than he planned. And the vibrant, buoyant hole his absence leaves in the herd is acutely felt by all the other other T. Rexes.

T. Veg is an ode to vegetarianism – and being true to oneself – so if you have a little one who’s a bit reluctant to eat those veggies on his or her plate, this might just be what the dino doc ordered.

Tyrannosaurus Ralph

by Nate Evans & Vince Evans (Andrews-McMeel)

Good for ages 7-12

Poor Ralph. He was just minding his own business when he got picked on by the local bully and then one thing led to another. The next thing he knows, his brain is transplanted into the body of a T. Rex and he’s at the center of a gladiatorial battle for Earth against the evil Clobberus Crunch. And all he has to fight and defend himself are those little T. Rex arms.

Tyrannosaurus Ralph is an absurdly fun graphic novel about a kid thrust into an exceedingly bizarre situation and just trying to make do. If you’ve got a fan of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid or Big Nate books, it’s a safe bet this one will also go over well.

Just don’t go into this one expecting any sort of actual scientific information about dinosaurs. You won’t find that here. Instead, you’ll find atom smashing wedgies, honk kazoos, and the terrible and terrifying Kaboom Doom battlefield.