Read aloud, with snow on the pagesAn interactive 3D dinosaur book by Katia Sunn
Dinosaurs Are BackSpike in New Adventures
Spike's egg brother is stolen, and a small Triceratops sets out to bring him home.
- A mystery with a missing egg
- Ten dinosaurs, friends and foes
- Every one of them steps into your room in 3D
- Ages
- 6 to 10
- Read together, or alone
- Pages
- 54
- Full color
- Format
- 8.5 × 8.5 in
- Square paperback
Look insideMeet the Tyrannosaurus in 3D
No app to download. Each dinosaur opens on your phone or tablet.
The trailer · 2:20
Case file no. 1: where is the egg?
A short film made from the book's own pictures, cut out like paper, with Katia's words read aloud.
Turn the sound on and watch it together. Captions are in the player.
The story
A small dino, a big forest, and one missing egg.
Spike is a young Triceratops with three horns and, as he puts it, even bigger dreams. He was just getting used to the idea of a baby brother and had already picked a name, Fino. Then one night the egg was gone.
So Spike, small and scared, goes looking. A Tyrannosaurus chases him for hours and then, out of breath, offers to help. A Spinosaurus spits him out because he smells wrong. A Velociraptor trades clues for chickens, and a Brachiosaurus shows him that a lake is not so wide if you look at it differently. His uncle turns out to be far too busy grooming his horns to be of any use.
Somewhere across the lake, in a cave, there are strange sounds. Eggs are missing all over the forest, and the smallest dinosaur around is the one who works out why. Katia wrote it the way Spike would tell it, in his own voice, scared and brave in the same sentence, and she kept the ending for the last page. After that comes a page of real dinosaur facts, because every reader will ask.
What stays with them
- Being small is not the same as being helpless
- The most unlikely allies can be your greatest friends
- Even in the darkest of times there is room for a bit of fun
Who you'll meet
Chased Spike for hours. Then became his loudest ally.
Spat him out. Spike smelled of T-rex.
Their eggs went missing too.
Spike's uncle. Very busy with his horns.
A detective who works for chickens.
Twenty of them make a bridge.
Three of them, on a quest of their own.
Sad red eyes. Cured by a pineapple.
Wounded, and the one who whispers run.
Armoured like a knight, and up to something.
Dinosaur facts for kids: all ten →Dinosaur jokes, with a true fact each →
Before you choose
Is it the right dinosaur book for your child?
What parents of dinosaur-mad kids ask us, answered straight.
- My child already knows every dinosaur name. Is this another fact book?
- No, it's a story. Spike, a young Triceratops, tells it himself: his baby brother's egg has been stolen and he sets out to find it. The ten dinosaurs he meets are characters, not entries. The Tyrannosaurus chases him for hours and then offers to help, and the Velociraptor trades clues for chickens. A child who knows the facts will enjoy seeing them used: the Spinosaurus lives by the lake, the Ankylosaurus fights with its tail club. There is one page of real dinosaur facts at the end.
- Is it too babyish for a 7 or 8 year old?
- No. It's 54 pages long, and it's a real mystery with clues to follow, told in Spike's own voice with words like herbivorous and audacious. Ages 6 to 10: at 6 and 7 it's a read-aloud, and from about 8 children read it on their own.
- How scary is it? How much peril?
- There is real peril, played for courage and laughs. A Tyrannosaurus chases Spike, a Spinosaurus nearly eats him and spits him out, a wounded Carnotaurus whispers "RUN!", and Spike's group is caught in a dark cave. The big battle happens off the page, and it ends with every egg back with its parents. Most 6 year olds love it. With a very sensitive child, read it together in the daytime first.
- How long does it take to read aloud?
- About 15 minutes for the whole story, a short paragraph or two per page. Lots of families read it over two bedtimes, and the lake crossing with the Brachiosaurus, around page 31, is a natural place to stop.
- My child is a reluctant reader but loves dinosaurs. Will this help?
- That's who it's built for. The paragraphs are short, the mystery needs the next page, and every few pages there is a new dinosaur your child can scan and see standing in the room. Reading the page is how you get to the dinosaur.
- Is it a good gift for a child who has every dinosaur book?
- Probably one they don't have: a story rather than an encyclopedia, with ten dinosaurs that step off the page in 3D on a phone or tablet, and three secret dinosaurs hidden at the back. It's a paperback, $14.99 on Amazon, and it's a book, not a toy.
- Does it need an app, and what if the app disappears?
- There is no app to download or lose. Each code opens an ordinary web page in the phone's or tablet's browser. Many older augmented reality books stopped working when their apps left the app stores. We built these so they don't depend on an app store.
Not sure it's the one? We keep a list of dinosaur story books for ages 5 to 8, other publishers' books included, with how scary each one gets. Buying a present? Dinosaur gifts that aren't toys.
Drag to spin. On a phone or tablet this opens AR.
And then the magic
Meet the Tyrannosaurus.
Tyrannosaurus, the one who chased Spike and then kept his word. This is him, from page 9.
Every animal in the story is also a real 3D model. Scan the code on its page and it stands in your room. The other 9 are waiting inside the book.
How the augmented reality works, step by step
Will it work on your phone or tablet, and is it screen time? Our parent's guide to augmented reality books
Look inside
Turn the pages. Tap the codes.
Real pages from the book. Where a code is printed you'll find a sticker: tap it and that page's animal comes up in 3D.
The rest lives in the book.
54 pages, every animal ready to step out.
Buy on Amazon · $14.99Dinosaur facts for kids
Cover
Swipe the page or use the arrows.Drag a corner or use the arrows. The tap me stickers sit where the codes are printed.
Free extras from this book
Keep the fun going after the last page.
From the back cover
Join Spike, the famous Triceratops, on an exciting journey into the world of dinosaurs. Solve the mystery of a daring theft and watch herbivores and carnivores on a strange hunt.
Explore fun dinosaur facts and see these amazing creatures come to life in your room. Resize them, walk around them, and capture videos of your dino friends in action.
To enjoy the magic, just use a smartphone or tablet (Android or iOS) and scan the QR code on each page with your camera. No app required.
Katia Sunn
- Do I need an app?
- No. Point the phone's or tablet's normal camera at the code on the page and tap the link. The animal opens in the browser and, on a phone or tablet, can be placed on your floor.
- Which devices work?
- iPhone and iPad (iOS 12 or newer) and Android phones and tablets with ARCore, which is most devices since 2018. Amazon Fire tablets show the 3D animal but cannot place it in the room.
- What age is it for?
- We wrote it for ages 6 to 10. Younger kids love watching, older ones read the story themselves and take the videos.
- Is it safe? What about the camera?
- The camera view stays on your device. We don't collect photos, video or location, there is no account and no login. The page uses a cookieless visit counter and nothing else.
- Isn't this more screen time?
- About a minute per animal, standing in the room, usually with a grown-up. It ends with the tablet going down and the book staying open. The book works fine without a phone or tablet too.
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Already have the book? The secret animals are at madeofyou.com/spike.