The Best Gift for a Child Who Loves Dinosaurs

You know the child I mean. The one who corrects you on the difference between a brachiosaurus and a diplodocus. The one whose every drawing has teeth. The one who would, given the choice, wear the dinosaur jumper every single day until it disintegrated. If there is a small palaeontologist in your life, this one's for you.

The dinosaur phase is a wonderful phase

I always smile when a child falls head over heels for dinosaurs, because it's so much more than a fad. It's the first great big passion — the first time they love something fiercely and learn everything about it just for the joy of knowing. My advice is never to fight it. Feed it. And the loveliest gifts are the ones that take that passion seriously and hand it right back to them.

Make them the hero, not just the audience

There are plenty of dinosaur toys in the world — another roaring T-rex will be loved for an afternoon and join the pile by the weekend. What stays with a child is rather different: a story in which they are the brave explorer, venturing into a prehistoric world, befriending the very creatures they adore. Not watching the adventure. Starring in it.

There's a special kind of delight in a child realising the explorer in the story is them.

That delight is the whole heart of what we do. When I started TripleGem Books, it was because I wanted my grandchildren to open a book and find themselves at the centre of the adventure — and a child who lives and breathes dinosaurs makes for a particularly happy hero.

A few touches that make it theirs

• Pick an adventurous theme and an illustration style to match — have a look at the story themes for inspiration.
• Add a companion. A friendly little dinosaur sidekick alongside them in the story is always a winner.
• Add a photo if you'd like the explorer in the pictures to look just like them.

And the wonderful thing? The very same idea works for whatever your child adores — space and rockets, unicorns, the deep blue sea, or all the animals in the zoo. Dinosaurs today; who knows by next year. Whatever it is, they can be the hero of it.

With love,
Granny T
Founder of TripleGem Books

Send them on their own dinosaur adventure

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