The Girl and the Dinosaur is a dreamy magical book about a young girl who finds some bones upon the beach.

The story follows Marianne, a little girl from a fishing village who the fisherfolk all worry about as she needs to find some friends, and ‘let those old bones be’. But Marianne is determined to uncover the bones and when she does, she discovers a beastie who she names bones.

Then that night when she goes to sleep, she makes a special wish for her stony bones to come to life. And sure enough, ‘The wishing stars burn bright that night, the air is thick with dreams, and a deeply sleeping dinosaur is waking up, it seems’.

Marianne and her dinosaur go soaring through the night and visit magical places. The rhyme and flow of writing in this book is brilliant and makes it such a joy to read.

The watercolour illustrations are gorgeous – every page is filled with wild wonder and creativeness. My favourite pages are the ones when the dinosaur comes to life and they go soaring through the air and visit mystical places. I want my own dinosaur beastie! This is one of those books were the illustrations and the writing and story match so perfectly, it almost feels as if it was completed by one person.

I just adored this book – it really took me back to my childhood where you feel like anything is possible. You want to ride a dinosaur through the sky at night? Why not! Children love taking some thing real, like fidning bones on the beach and turning it into an imaginery adventure.

This book has huge appeal for a massive range of readers. The easy to follow rhyming script makes it easy to read, and the story will grab every child and adults imagination. A brilliant book about all the things that are possible if you have the mind to dream about them. This book is officially one of my favourites, and one I will be sure to get a copy of for my home bookshelf.

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Title: The Girl and the Dinosaur

Author and Illustrator: Hollie Hughes & Sarah Massini

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Published: 2019

Ages: 3+