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Children's bookclub: Dino-Mummy by Mark Sperring and Sam Lloyd - Apply for a free copy

25 replies

RachelMumsnet · 03/03/2014 12:03

We're delighted to announce our Children's bookclub choices for March. First up is the delightful Dino-Mummy.

Mother's Day always brings about a plethora of mummy-related children's books but this caught our eye because of the charming illustrations and lovely text celebrating mums with warmth and humour but without being cutesy. Author Mark Sperring also wrote The Shape of My Heart which was bookclub choice last year. This is his second book with illustrator, Sam Lloyd, who together wrote Dino Baby.

Find out more about the book, apply for a free copy and come back and let us know what your dcs think or post up a review.

Children's bookclub: Dino-Mummy by Mark Sperring and Sam Lloyd - Apply for a free copy
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AliceMumsnet · 10/03/2014 10:43

This giveaway is closed. We will notify those who have been selected to receive a free copy via email. Please feel free to discuss the book here throughout the month and look forward to hearing your thoughts.

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lottegraham · 19/03/2014 10:55

what a great book. Got mine this morning, full of colour, great rhyming and a very "life like" story. i can relate to most of this book which makes it more special. its different from other books ive seen lately as the pages dont have to glossy look to them. but i wouldn't say that was a negative to it.

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MrsRedWhite214 · 19/03/2014 12:44

My son loves books that rhyme, and this one seems great. I love the way it goes through a day that he can relate to, with lovely pictures for him to look at and talk around. Definitely a hit in our house. I feel I need one for daddy too though as he doesn't sit around all day just watching mummy (even though it feels like it sometimes!).

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Jenni2legs · 19/03/2014 16:30

Usually I tend to star

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Jenni2legs · 19/03/2014 16:35

Usually I tend to steer clear of very pink toys and books (which this is) but I love the fact that the protagonist is a female dinosaur. It always feels like dinosaurs are for boys, but not here. Saying that I don't think the book - as pink as it is - is directed at girls, the pink belongs to the dinosaur mummy, and my son and daughter both enjoyed it.

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CannotthinkofaNN · 19/03/2014 17:53

The book arrived this morning and I have read it to both my 3 year old and 17 month old. We all loved it. The story was just the right length and the illustrations were great - really colourful. I would not hesitate in recommending this book or buying others in this series.

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Beepbeepnow · 19/03/2014 18:03

Received this today and read to my 14 month old son. As I opened the book up he was smiling away at the pics. Loved this book overall :)

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ang34 · 19/03/2014 19:15

The book arrived today and it was read the minute we got it out of the envelope. My 3 year olds twins loved it, we have since read it ten times. They do love a book !!! And this was perfect lovely little story which they could understand. Thank you very much.

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pennwood · 19/03/2014 20:02

A great book for preschool children. Just the right amount of text to hold children's interest, & something they can easily relate to. The illustrations were good, & nice to have female dinosaurs for a change. Amelia loved the book & I would recommend it.

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cavylover · 21/03/2014 11:08

What a lovely book for young children with delightful colourful illustrations and excellent text. Nice to see it is about a female dinosaur which will bring dinosaurs to the attention of girls as usually the stories are usually aimed at boys. Original idea. Excellent - thank you.

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GrouchingTiggerHiddenSomething · 21/03/2014 12:26

Thank you for this book it's lovely. Read it to my children and my DD who has loved dinosaurs since she was 2 especially loved it. Even the my 8 year old DS liked it :) A great book to keep in mind with mother's day coming up.

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IreadthereforeIam · 21/03/2014 20:08

I work in a Preschool, and I took this in to read to the children. It went down really well, in fact as soon as I finished it, I was asked to read it again - 4 times!! We also read it to the children at large group time, and it started off a nice discussion about what jobs their mummys and daddys did (it was nice to hear them say that they didn't think the mummy dinosaur should be doing everything, and why was the daddy sat reading the paper and not joining in!).
I asked the small group of children that I read to what they thought of it. They said:
"I like all of it!"
"I really like this mummy - she's a pirate"
When the Mummy dino is hanging up the washing, one child said: "My mummy does that, but so does my daddy - he hangs off the washing line too!" (I don't know whether or not his wife would be too impressed though!)
So all in all, a big hit! I've left it at work (I work for a charity run preschool, so free books are always welcome!).

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dyslexicdespot · 22/03/2014 18:18

This beautifully illustrated dud of a book has annoyed me ever since it arrived (thanks by the way!). It should be good, it could have been good, but unfortunately, it fails miserably on the feminist front. It's the sort of thing you would expect to have been published in the 1950s.

It is essentially an ode to an over-worked under-appreciated housewife. The narrator encourages the reader to recognise her brilliance. Dino-mummy's genius is expressed through her ability to whip up a full English breakfast, and cereal for her clueless family. Here is a little sample of her skills:

"She's the star of the high wire hanging washing on the line. And the bravest dino-trooper...fighting dust and grease and grime'.

Basically, If Dino-mummy posted about her useless 'D'H on mumsnet she would undoubtedly be encouraged to DTB. On a positive note, Sam Lloyd's illustrations, are wonderful, as usual.

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Coffeechick · 23/03/2014 18:35

The rhyming words were appreciated my daughter and she loved the big bright illustrations.
The appreciation of how much the Dino mum does for her family was duly discussed with my children and hopefully means I wii get more help :)

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NewLisaLife · 23/03/2014 20:04

A great book for all. My 16 nth old loved it but then again so did my 6&7 year old. It's great fun story about Dino-Mummy (I.e me Wink) will be reading it a lot more as we've read it everyday since it arrived. Grin

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shrunkenhead · 23/03/2014 22:42

Sam Lloyd's illustrations really make this book, however tend to agree with other posters in that while itcelebrates how much mothers do (and hopefully our children will appreciate this) it does beg the question "what does DH do?!". Also agree it's refreshing to see a book about dinosaurs that is clearly marketed at girls. My daughter likes it, mainly because she can relate to it ie mummy doing EVERYTHING!

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sealight123 · 24/03/2014 09:26

The book is beautiful presented and illustrated but unfortunately, my daughter just wasn't interested. It wasn't because the book was boring..it was because it was pink. My daughter is only 2 and a half but she is a huge tomboy and she didn't understand why the dinosaur book was pink. I tried to explain that it was a mummy dinosaur but essentially she did not believe this warrented the book being pink haha

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majjsu · 25/03/2014 10:44

My LO did enjoy this book. She loved the little messy dinosaurs rather than the mummy. Her favourite colour is pink, so she loved the style and pictures. I did think female dinosaurs were good. Overall a fun, entertaining book.

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Axlemaimi · 25/03/2014 10:50

Lovely illustrated rhyming book which my 3 year old enjoyed, read to his whole nursery yesterday and it went down a treat.

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heyday · 26/03/2014 20:42

This was a nice book and my 2 year old really enjoyed it but did think the parts where Mummy Dino is doing all the chores, especially the cleaning, was just a tad dull. Glad to know that mummy Dino was a fun Mummy too and this aspect of the story was great. All the rhymes about cleaning the dust and grime....... Yawn, yawn.
Overall, a nice book with lovely illustrations but could have been so much better.

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littlemissexcited5 · 27/03/2014 10:55

I was really pleased to receive this book but have to agree with previous posters I was very unimpressed. Whilst the illustrations are lovely and the language is interesting the actual concept and messages should stay as extinct as the dinos! Why would I want to read a book to my daughter which shows Daddy reading a newspaper whilst mummy is doing all the chores. Outdated concepts, potentially damaging messages. Quite shocked that this was approved. We live in a modern day household where both of us help out around the house even though I am a SAHM. Unfortunately, I won't be reading this again to my daughter or son.

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webster147 · 31/03/2014 13:02

We were really excited when we received our copy of 'Dino Mummy' and read it straight away.
My little girl enjoyed the colourful pictures & the illustrations are beautiful.
The story did seem a little stereotypical with the chores falling to the 'Mummy' but we took it in a fun way.
A welcome addition to our bookcase.

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katiesobol · 19/04/2014 13:49

What a lovely book - beautifully illustrated and special to read with my children for Mother's Day.
My youngest daughter in particular is dino-mad, but also embraces her girly pink side - so this really was the perfect book for her.
Both of my children loved the rhymes and the story and I was rewarded with big cuddles from my girls at the end of the story -- what could be better than that!

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nwstokes · 05/05/2014 18:46

Grandchildren love this book.15 month enjoys the colourful pictures but the elder 4 year old prefers the constant reading. A good book

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Teladi · 05/05/2014 18:51

Coincidentally we got this one out of the library this week. I think it's terribly dated and un-feminist. I had to compare the situation in my house with the situation in the Dino house on every page. The page where daddy was reading the paper while mummy was doing the chores was particularly bad! I've now stashed it back in the library bag, we're not reading it again.

The illustrations were lovely though, the rhyming was fun, and I'm going to check out Dino-Baby to see how it stacks up.

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