How Many Dinosaurs Deep?

How Many Dinosaurs Deep? by Ben Kitchin, illustrated by Vicky Fieldhouse (New Frontier Publishing) HB RRP $24.99

ISBN 9781925059731

Reviewed by Rebecca Newman

Jim is ready to go swimming and has just graduated from the baby pool. He’s anxious about the depth of the middle-sized pool and asks his mother about it. His mum reassures him by explaining that the water would only be up to a Stegosaurus’s knee. While he watches other children in the pool (and works up the courage to go swimming himself) they chat about the depth of various bodies of water — the bath, the big pool, the water near a familiar jetty, the deepest water in all the world — compared to the different dinosaurs he knows. All this dinosaur talks puts Jim at ease and as he jumps into the pool he calls out, ‘It’s just Stegosaurus-knee-deep!’

Children who love dinosaurs will enjoy the bright illustrations showing the obliging dinosaurs stacked up in various water depths. This picture book is a wonderful springboard for discussions with young children about measurement, space, and resilience. And dinosaurs!

At the end of the book there’s an illustrated glossary with interesting facts about the dinosaurs shown in the book.

About the reviewer: Rebecca Newman is a children’s writer and poet. She is the editor of Alphabet Soup’s website and former editor of Alphabet Soup’s print magazine. rebeccanewman.net.au