Dinosaur Countdown

Nicholas Oldland's Dinosaur Countdown is a counting book for 5 year olds that runs backwards from ten dinosaurs all the way down to none.

What happens

It starts with ten striding velociraptors. Then nine deinosuchus lazing about, eight munching plant-eaters and seven parasaurolophus sauntering along.

Every number shows up as a figure and as a word, with a dinosaur and whatever it's busy doing. Sky-gazing diplodocus. Smiling deinonychus. Tottering triceratops. They're lovely to roll around your mouth!

And the names really are a mouthful. Happily there's a guide after the countdown to how you actually say them, so nobody has to guess at parasaurolophus.

There are a couple of little extras to hunt for too. A looming predator is lurking with the velociraptors, and something is flying over the parasaurolophus. What could it be?

Then you get to zero. And the reason there are no dinosaurs left is the best joke in the book (they're extinct, silly!).

If you've got a dinosaur fan who already knows their triceratops from their stegosaurus, they'll love shouting out the numbers and the names.

What to read next

And if they're after another dinosaur story with a funny ending, The Berenstain Bears and the Missing Dinosaur Bone has three little bear detectives racing to find a missing bone before the museum opens at noon.