10th June 2022 sees the release of Jurassic World Dominion, the final instalment of the Jurassic World trilogy, part of a blockbuster film franchise that roared its way into cinemas 29 years ago. If you’re as excited as I am (and I’m so excited that I’ve booked three days off work to mark the momentous occasion by re-watching the entire franchise before the big day), then here’s my top ten dino delights to get you in the mood for the dinosaur event of the decade!
1) Rashmi Sirdeshpande and Diane Ewen, Never Show a T-Rex a Book
What would happen if you gave a T-Rex a book? Absolute chaos! Dinosaurs would rule the earth! What better way to celebrate the wonder of dinosaurs and the power of reading? Never Show a T-Rex a Book is full of joy, colour, imagination and, most importantly, loads of dinosaurs! The best news of all is that there are two more books in the series: Never Teach a Stegosaurus to do Sums and, coming in August 2022, Never Let a Diplodocus Draw. And, once you’ve read them all, you can play the entertaining game of guess the title of the next book in the series. Never Let a Mosasaurus Meditate? Never Let a Triceratops Play Tennis? The possibilities are endless!
You can find out more about Rashmi’s work here: https://rashmisirdeshpande.com/ and Diane’s work here: https://thebrightagency.com/uk/childrens-illustration/artists/diane-ewen
2) Emma Yarlett, Nibbles: The Dinosaur Guide
Nibbles the Book Monster burst onto the scene in 2017 as he gnawed his way through beloved fairy tales and he has delighted us in several books since, but my absolute favourite is Nibbles: The Dinosaur Guide. Reading any Nibbles book is an immersive experience and I'm in awe of their clever construction, but The Dinosaur Guide has the added excitement of seeing our mischievous little friend taunting a Triceratops, evading Velociraptors and even taking on a T-Rex. Plus, there’s some handy little fact files about our favourite dinosaurs!
You can find out more about Emma’s work, including the Nibbles series, here: https://www.emmayarlett.com/
3) The Land Before Time
Fantasia aside (where I was so traumatised by the extinction of the dinosaurs sequence that I refused to watch beyond this), The Land Before Time was my introduction to dinosaurs on screen and what an introduction! I can’t count the number of times I've joined Littlefoot, Cera, Petrie, Ducky and Spike on their quest to find the Great Valley as they attempt to escape the famine that has swept across their homeland. I would advise some caution for the smallest of humans as Sharp Tooth the T-Rex is rather scary (I was terrified of him on first viewing, but then I was a sensitive child) and there’s a Bambi moment early on which may be upsetting for some as Littlefoot’s mother gives her life to protect Littlefoot and co from Sharp Tooth. But Ducky and Petrie bring some much-needed comedy and cuteness to what is, at times, a somewhat bleak film, Cera the Triceratops is delightfully moody throughout and all ends well as the young dinosaurs are reunited with their families.
But, be warned, the film spawned a staggering thirteen direct-to-video spin-offs and I can’t vouch for the quality of these, although I have my suspicions . . .
4) Elys Dolan, Rex: Dinosaur in Disguise
Elys Dolan is an author, illustrator and lecturer whose best-known work includes Steven Seagull: Action Hero and her Dave Dragon series (which is brilliant and will definitely feature elsewhere on this blog!). Rex: Dinosaur in Disguise is her most recent book, released at the perfect time for small (and large) Jurassic fans everywhere. Meet Rex the T-Rex, a dinosaur frozen in the Ice Age who thaws out in the modern world and is shocked to discover traffic lights, angry dogs and, worst of all, HUMANS! Fortunately, help is at hand in the form of some undercover prehistoric pals: Bigfoot, who works in an office, Dodo, a successful restauranteur, and Nessie, a lifeguard at the local swimming pool. This is a delightful and hilarious story about finding the balance between fitting in and being yourself.
You can find out more about Elys’s work here: https://elysdolan.com/
5) Matt Sewell, Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Creatures
Matt Sewell is best known for his wonderful bird books (if you have any ornithologists in your family, then you’ve got Christmas and birthday presents sorted for the next few years) and I was delighted to discover that he had branched out into drawing dinosaurs. This is a bright and beautifully illustrated book, jam-packed with cute and colourful dinosaurs (and other prehistoric creatures). It has all the firm favourites – Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Brachiosaurus, Velociraptor and, of course, Tyrannosaurus rex – along with some less familiar beasts with unpronounceable names, such as Psittacosaurus, Dromiceiomimus, Pachycephalosaurus. (Just don’t make me say them out loud.) My favourite is the Dracoraptor, discovered in Wales in 2014. (I can spell it, for one thing.) Each double-page-spread illustration is accompanied by a miniature fact file and, with fifty different species to explore, you'll definitely be able to pass as a prehistoric professor by the time you’ve finished. For me, the best thing about this book is the beautiful endpapers and I’ve spent a long time trying to work out how many copies I would need to buy to wallpaper my bedroom in it. Perhaps just a feature wall . . .
You can find out more about Matt’s work here: https://www.mattsewell.co.uk/
6) Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous (Netflix)
Camp Cretaceous is an animated action-adventure television series which follows six teens – Darius, Ben, Kenji, Brooklynn, Sammy and Yasmina – who are offered exclusive access to a dinosaur camp on Isla Nublar, home to dinosaur theme park Jurassic World. But when the dinosaurs escape and the Jurassic World tourists are evacuated, the six campers are left stranded on Isla Nublar, fighting for the lives and searching for a route off the island. The series is set during and between the events of Jurassic World and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and features characters from the Jurassic World trilogy – including the now-villainous Dr Henry Wu and Blue the Velociraptor – so there’s plenty for die-hard Jurassic fans to enjoy.
The series does a good job of balancing the group interaction and character development of the campers with the dinosaur thrills of the live-action Jurassic films. There’s a character here for everyone, from lovable dino nerd Darius to cool-girl influencer Brooklynn, and the series is as much about the campers trying to avoid killing each other as it is about them trying to avoid being killed by dinosaurs. There are human villains as well as dangerous dinosaurs and the campers’ frequent attempts to escape the island are interrupted by missions to protect the very dinosaurs they are running from. The strongest draw for me is the transformation of Ben Pincus (voiced by Sean Giambrone of The Goldbergs fame) from a germ-phobic, risk-averse boy who is scared of his own shadow into a Lord-of-the-Flies-esque King of the Jungle and the bond that he forges with a baby Ankylosaurus called Bumpy. She is just THE CUTEST and I can guarantee that you will squee when you see her!
Season four ended on a shocking cliffhanger and the final season is set to air on 21st July 2022 on Netlfix. And, for anyone who doesn’t have Netflix, you can also catch up with the campers via the junior novelizations which, although abridged, give a good sense of the action and come with picture inserts and pull-out posters.
7) Jurassic Park FunkoVerse Strategy Game
I’ll level with you, I haven’t actually played this game yet and I’ve heard that it’s quite complicated (and I’m not the most patient of people). On the plus side, even if you don’t work out how to play the game, you get to add to your collection of Jurassic Park Funko Pops. The original game comes with Dr Ellie Sattler, Dr Alan Grant, John 'Ray' Arnold and a Velociraptor, while the expansion pack adds Dr Ian Malcolm and the T-Rex to the mix. The models aren’t full-size Funko Pops, but they are bigger than I expected (the Velociraptor is the smallest at just under 7cm and Dr Alan Grant the tallest at 8 ½cm) and, if you have a mini dinosaur of your own, then you can use them to recreate scenes from the film. The original game is for two to four players and is recommended for ages ten and up. The expansion pack can be played as an add-on to the original game, or as a stand-alone two-player game. Perhaps Jurassic World Dominion will give me the push I need to finally sit down and work out how to play!
8) Steve Brusatte, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs
If you’re really serious about dinosaurs, then American palaeontologist and evolutionary biologist Steve Brusatte is your man and The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs is your book. A Sunday Times bestseller and The Times Science Book of the Year, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs tells the story of the evolution and extinction of the dinosaurs in a scientific but accessible way. I was lucky enough to meet Steve and hear him talk about his work back in 2018 when he was the keynote speaker at a Jurassic Park conference at Cardiff University that I co-ran with Dr Ross Garner to mark the 25th anniversary of the first Jurassic Park film. Here, Brusatte spoke about the influence of the Jurassic Park films upon his career path and that of a whole generation of palaeontologists who grew up with the films and also answered the question on everyone’s lips: what do you think of Dr Ross Geller from Friends? After discovering several new species of dinosaur, appearing on multiple dinosaur documentaries and writing dinosaur books for both child and adult audiences, Brusatte can now also add consultant for Jurassic World Dominion to his list of impressive dinosaur credentials.
9) Prehistoric Planet (Apple TV)
If you like David Attenborough nature documentaries and dinosaurs, then this one’s for you. Apple TV’s Prehistoric Planet is informative, dramatic and visually spectacular, complete with a stunning soundtrack from Hans Zimmer, Kara Talve and Anže Rozman and Attenborough’s trademark soothing narration. In terms of storytelling and aesthetic, it’s very convincing as a nature programme, which is exactly what made it a hard watch for me. As a generally oversensitive person when it comes to animal death (I happen to be a vegetarian), I don’t watch nature programmes as a rule, unless they are carefully vetted by my sister (who is, in fact, a vet). She told me that this one was okay because ‘it’s not real’. Despite this assertion, however, I found myself traumatised by the opening scenes as a baby T-Rex was eaten by a Mosasaur and then a baby turtle was eaten by a baby T-Rex. I’m fine with a T-Rex eating a lawyer off a toilet, but I draw the line at baby turtles! So, it’s with a heavy heart that I add Prehistoric Planet to this list. It’s a treat for dinosaur lovers everywhere but if, like me, you have a low tolerance for animal death (even when it’s not real) then you might want to hover your finger over the fast-forward button to enjoy the spectacle without the inevitable carnage.
Slightly less gruesome is the bonus content, which is well worth a watch. The first short video, Freshwater: Uncovered explores the fossil evidence for feathered dinosaurs, including my all-time favourite, the Velociraptor, and the reasons why this would make them even more fearsome predators than their somewhat larger and distinctly less feathery Jurassic incarnation.
10) Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park
What better way to get in the mood for Jurassic World Dominion than to go back to where it all started? Michael Crichton’s 1990 techno-thriller novel Jurassic Park is a very different beast from Steven Spielberg’s 1993 epic action-adventure family-friendly adaptation. (More on this in a later blog post!) The novel is much more science-focused than its film equivalent and distinctly more gruesome than Spielberg’s PG-rated blockbuster. I first saw Jurassic Park as a starry-eyed seven-year-old and I didn’t read the novel until much later in life. My heart will always be with the film, but the book gave me a greater insight into the inner workings of the park and the reasons for its catastrophic collapse. Here, we get a glimpse into the world of commercial biotechnology, industrial espionage and government cover-ups. It’s not as accessible as the film and, like me, you might be baffled by Dr Ian Malcolm’s fractal curve diagrams but, by the end of it all, I can guarantee that you’ll have a firm grounding in chaos theory. And if you’re wondering what the point is of reading a 400-page book about characters whose fates you already know, then let’s just say that you might be in for a few surprises in Crichton’s version of events.
You can find out more about Michael’s work here: https://www.michaelcrichton.com
So, there’s plenty of dinosaur drama keep you going in the lead-up to Jurassic World Dominion and lots to get your teeth into to keep the Jurassic party going while we wait for the DVD release. It’s going to be ROARSOME!
Have any dino delights to add to the list? I'd love to hear from you in the comments below.
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