What do you think?
Rate this book
Bones, Bones, Dinosaur Bones
"Barton takes readers on a quest for dinosaur bones. After the bones are wrapped, loaded, and trucked to a museum, the scientists study, clean, and reassemble them into a towering tyrannosaurus rex skeleton. Barton scores high marks in all categories—accuracy, simplicity, appropriateness, appeal for the intended audience, and timeliness." —H.
1991 Fanfare Honor List (The Horn Book)
Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children 1990 (NSTA/CBC)
Author Biography: Byron Barton is the author and illustrator of many books for children, including Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs; The Three Bears: The Little Red Hen; Machines at Work; I Want to Be an Astronaut; and a series of board books: Big Machines, Dinosaurs, Tools, and Zoo Animals. He is also the illustrator of The Little Factory, written by Sarah Weeks. He lives in Sarasota, FL.
Paperback
First published September 28, 1990
6 people are currently reading
122 people want to read
About the author
Byron Barton
76 books51 followersByron Barton is the author and illustrator of many picture books for young children. He has been honored by ALA, SLJ, and Reading Rainbow. He worked as an animator for CBS before he started creating children's books. He is currently making his illustrations completely on the computer.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
September 30, 2025
Teaches children that working as a group can help you accomplish a difficult project. This is a nice way of presenting how to work as a team to reach a common goal. Took me back to when I was a boy digging for dinosaur bones in the backyard...I really thought that I was going to find something there - but I never did!
September 7, 2010
Today's letter at story time was B. I missed a good portion of this one because Natalie was crawling on something or another. What I did hear was a great introduction to paleontologists. Bold illustrations.
August 10, 2017
Bones, Bones, Dinosaur Bones by Byron Barton is a picture book for children ages 2-6. The book is illustrated with bright, primary color pages and drawings of men working to assemble the skeleton of a T-Rex. The pages have only a sentence each; the story being mainly told through the pictures. The tale follows along with the process from beginning to end of digging up the bones of a T-Rex, transporting them back to a museum, and assembling them into a magnificent skeleton.
This was a favorite book of mine when growing up. I enjoyed the simple, bright-colored drawings of the men and trucks as they explored and dug for bones. Additionally, the reassembly of the T-Rex skeleton fascinated me. The bones are so spectacularly huge next to the men. The last page also shows pictures of the different types of dinosaurs which is a bonus to the actual story. There is a lot here that a parent reading the story to a child can focus on: the paleontologists, the teamwork, the museum, the excavation, the dinosaurs themselves, and parts of the body. It is a fun book, but also a book that can be used to teach many subjects. This is a classic, and is rated 5 out of 5 stars for its many uses as well as the exciting illustrations. Reviewed on 8/2/17
This was a favorite book of mine when growing up. I enjoyed the simple, bright-colored drawings of the men and trucks as they explored and dug for bones. Additionally, the reassembly of the T-Rex skeleton fascinated me. The bones are so spectacularly huge next to the men. The last page also shows pictures of the different types of dinosaurs which is a bonus to the actual story. There is a lot here that a parent reading the story to a child can focus on: the paleontologists, the teamwork, the museum, the excavation, the dinosaurs themselves, and parts of the body. It is a fun book, but also a book that can be used to teach many subjects. This is a classic, and is rated 5 out of 5 stars for its many uses as well as the exciting illustrations. Reviewed on 8/2/17
July 27, 2017
Archeology. One of my favorite things. Written in easy to understand children's language.
December 1, 2016
My 2 year old LOVES this book and has it partially memorized. The reviewers who think this has no rhythm are nuts. Byron Barton books are all awesome for reading out loud, except maybe for the Easter egg in this one that has you list all the different species of dinosaurs (parasaurolophus=PARE-ah-so-ROH-luh-fus)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 5, 2013
This is a cute story. Nothing super special, but it will be good to read to a kindergarten class when you are trying to teach them about nonfiction. I do love dinosaurs so this is probably something that I will add to my library.
March 8, 2017
WOW, this book was much more of a story time success than I thought it was going to be.
I picked it for the objective and helpful information, but the kids LOVED the illustrations, simple text and to the point story.
I picked it for the objective and helpful information, but the kids LOVED the illustrations, simple text and to the point story.
June 23, 2009
It was super great. I like it because they found all the bones, digged them up, and put them in the museum.
September 13, 2010
Just like what we saw at the Dinosaur Discovery Site http://www.dinotrax.com/ in St. George, UT this weekend. Had fun with the cousins there.
February 3, 2011
I just adore Bryon Barton's books. I have no idea why. So simple and useful. My kids love them too!
June 20, 2011
I love Byron Barton for the 2 - 4 set. Simple text, simple pictures. Calum is really enjoying this one. No talking animals here.
June 22, 2011
Byron Barton can always be depended on to write books that children will enjoy and relate to, while learning something new.
May 21, 2012
This book is I think geared towards toddlers with the simple pictures and lines, but there is no flow or rhythm to the prose. If feels awkward to read aloud.
June 4, 2024
Loved the language, the illustrations, and use of bright, primary colours! Will be using with my three- and four-year old storytime centered around dinosaurs.
January 13, 2015
A fun, easy look at dinosaur bones.
May 27, 2017
#Dinosaurs for the young! #YoungReaders #PictureBook #BookReview #ChildrensBooks #amreading
August 8, 2017
So...here's the thing. This is a simple, easy-to-read book about paleontology which I feel would be perfect for the youngest kiddos and early readers. It flows nicely and has super simple illustrations that greatly appeal to kids. Except...the author randomly decides to throw in this lest of hard-to-pronounce dinosaur names. Because...reasons? Seriously, it makes no sense. It isn't part of the story and the names, except for the Tyrannosaurus, are never mentioned again. This list (which isn't even part of a sentence) puts the book FAR out of the reading ability of most kids...and many adults, too. It destroys the flow of the story and leads to frustration. My advice? If reading aloud, just skip that part. You aren't missing anything except frustration.
December 1, 2020
- Barner used a variety of colors, and rhymes to inform children about dinosaur bones.
Throughout the book, the author identifies 5 different types of dinosaurs. He compares their bones to animals that are currently living.
-This was a fun read, and I really enjoyed the illustrations. My favorite part of the book was that it rhymed! However, I think it could be a little confusing for young readers.
Throughout the book, the author identifies 5 different types of dinosaurs. He compares their bones to animals that are currently living.
-This was a fun read, and I really enjoyed the illustrations. My favorite part of the book was that it rhymed! However, I think it could be a little confusing for young readers.
January 4, 2019
Super simplistic, but I'm introducing the fiction/nonfiction concept to kindergarten and I needed a short book. It would also be a great choice for introducing the AR/RC test taking. I love the illustrations. In another lesson reproducing those simple graphic illustrations would be a great "close reading" exercise.
April 10, 2019
A classic I hadn't added! Great for kids who love dinosaurs or who are interested in paleontology. A bunch of scientists dig up bones and put them all together to go into the museum, and it briefly overviews the process (with minimal text on each page) of digging them, packing them, reconstructing them, etc. I like Byron Barton's books for their bright colors.
February 5, 2020
This book is a fun way to view the life of a paleontologist and see what they do for a living. The book shows different kinds of dinosaurs as well as how the skeleton is created. It also has a nice chime to it and a the end helps you pronounce the name of these dinosaurs correctly. this book helps kids view how a skeleton is also mounted and a view of how large the dinosaurs were compared to us.
February 23, 2019
A short, simple story with simple illustrations about archaeologists finding, digging up, and assembling a dinosaur skeleton.
This book follows more of a story line than many of Barton’s other books. No it actually seems to explain things a bit more too.
This book follows more of a story line than many of Barton’s other books. No it actually seems to explain things a bit more too.
November 18, 2017
Good to introduce kiddos to dinosaur names
February 21, 2018
A short book about dinosaurs, their bones, and how they're found.
July 5, 2018
With his signature black outlined illustrations, Barton explains the process of a musuem dinosaur display from digging to assembly.
February 24, 2019
I know it's a kid's book, but a few more details, especially about extraction and transportation, would have been appreciated.
March 2, 2019
Toddler level introduction to archaeology.
Would be a great precursor to a dinosaur bone puzzle.
Would be a great precursor to a dinosaur bone puzzle.
August 4, 2021
this is a good book to introduce what archeologists do. nice and simple
September 12, 2021
Super cute book
November 18, 2021
Nothing really here, art isn't great either.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews