i'm a dirty dinosaur

“I’m a dirty dinosaur with a dirty face. I never have a wash – I just shake about the place. Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake about the place!” This is another book that goes in my this-author-really-gets-little-kids category. Dinosaurs? check. Getting dirty? check. Lyrical, repeated phrasing? check. And, as an added bonus for the parents, the dinosaur washes in the lake at the end – check!
 
I’m a Dirty Dinosaur (a Kane Miller book by Janeen Brian and Ann James) follows a little dinosaur as it plays in the mud – and yes, the artist used real mud for the illustrations! The dinosaur gets its snout dirty, then face, then tummy… until it’s completely covered in mud! Then, at the end… “I’m a dirty dinosaur. I’m YUCKY! Oh, my gosh! I think I’ll stomp right to the swamp and… give myself a wash!”
 
So the little dinosaur ends up all sparkling clean. Of course, as any parent who has hung out with little kids knows, it doesn’t last long – the final page of the book shows the clean dinosaur eyeing the mud puddle again…

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It’s that book that brings humor to the classic kid process of getting dirty and clean and dirty all over again.

Book benefits:

• Text is written with lyrical rhythm that's fun to read aloud and an emphasis on repeated words ("sniff, sniff, snuff, snuff, sniff and snuff about!"
• There's no gender given to the dinosaur, making this an equally relatable book for girls and boys
• Illustrations are whimsical, combining bright colors with actual mud

Buy I'm a Dirty Dinosaur here! (hardcover, $11.99)

• Also available: I'm a Hungry Dinosaur