Customer Reviews

Dinosailors

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

In this rhyming high-sea adventure we meet a crew of delightful dinosailors who are "hale and hearty-dinotough! / They talk of salty sailing stuff: / Blocks and winches, dinocleats, / Shackles, tacking, trimming sheets."

After readying their ship, and raising anchor using "dinoforce," they head out with the wind. They sing sea songs and "have a ball." That is, until they meet with a storm. They bump into walls-and each other. "They mash the mast and ram the rails." They also become seasick. (One double-paged spread shows the dinosailors being sick-thankfully from a distance.) This is enough to convince the bunch to return to blessedly firm land and their homes.

They don't, however, remain at home for long. "Once more they hear adventure's cry, / So dinotravelers say good-bye." This time they choose a more stable form of transportation-a train.

The gouache and watercolor illustrations, done in bold, bright colors, are a perfect match for the text. Fine uses various perspectives to great effect.

Dinosailors works well as a read-aloud and also for one-on-one sharing.

Reviewed by the Education Oasis Staff.

There are three things my son loves at this moment... dinosaurs, "pirate ships" (all ships are pirate ships), and trains. This book has them all! And a little bit of gross stuff that the kids enjoy!

My 2.5 year old thinks this is soooo funny. She loves to look at the pictures and she gets the humor of the story. A wonderful and creative book! Thanks!

This book tickled my 6-year old's fancy, but thrilled my 2-1/2 year old. The idea of rough and tough dinosailors leaving the high seas for the comfort and familiarity of their homes and loved ones is something all preschool adventurers can relate to, while their eagerness to try something new as soon as they've been reassured is something parents can relate to.

Wonderful illustrations and end papers that give the proper name for each critter add to the fun of this tale. Highly recommended.

My three year old son loves the Dinotrain, so I bought this book for him and assumed that we would love it. He wanted me to read this to him one night and so I did and now I wish I hadn't. This book is a cute idea, with the dinosaurs, the boat, the same cute rhyming text and the illustrations, until about half way through and I was shocked. The dinocrew heaves-ho (gets sick) all over the boat and what is worse, is it is illustrated too. It was gross. I didn't think is was funny, I just couldn't believe I saw this in a Children's book. I am sending this book back and the only reason I am giving it two stars, is because we liked the dinotrain so much.

I bought this book after my 3YO loves the dino-train book. Dino-Sailors does not compare! The book was much more advanced... and I didn't care for the dinosaurs getting sea sick on the boat... My son didn't understand the book and I didn't care for it. However Dino-Train is great!

I thought that dinosaurs and sailing would be a cute combination for my two year old and it's not an awful book but I think they do get a mite too technical on the sailing terminology. That would have been fine if they defined it or explained it better through pictures but they don't. The dino-repetition doesn't grate on me the way it seems to a lot of the other reviewers, it's part of the nature of childrens books. The main problem with it was the depiction of and references to vomiting. Yuck. I hate it every time I read it and then put the book away for several more weeks until I forget how much it bothers me. This would otherwise have been a three or four star book.

This is a book about a mixed group of dinosaurs that go sailing. Bet you never saw that coming :)

It's very cute, and it does offer a lot of chance to learn some specialized nautical terms like "galley" (which you probably never have a chance to say to your preschooler). I will say that the use of dino- in front of every other word can get grating after a while.

There is one scene where the entire ship spews out vomit. My nieces read this book avidly for that one scene so they can yell "EW! GROSS!" because, like most children, gross humor is where it's at. If this is the sort of thing you don't like, though, please read this book before you buy it.

Of all the books that I read to my preschooler, this is the one she most often requests, and the one I'm most happy to read to her.
Not only is the narrative clever and charming, the rhythm is so effortlessly perfect you could waltz to it. There's enough pre-school humor to satisfy her without neglecting my funny-bone as well. (We've developed our own sound effects for the sea-sick page.)
The illustrations are equally marvelous. I especially like the artist's "camera angles". Little wonder the publishers put out a sequel. (Equally good.) I truly hope more follow.

This book caught my eye at the library because of the beautiful cover. After checking it out and reading it to my son I knew it was a must own. The illustrations are so colorful and realistic in a cartoony way. The story has a wonderful flow to it with "dino" incorporated into some term on each page. The rhymes are great for preeschoolers! My son thinks the book is too funny. He especially likes the part where the dinosaurs throw-up after getting seasick. This book is a favorite in our house.