Santasaurus

by Niamh Sharkey

Niamh Sharkey creates Christmas magic with her simple, quirky, and striking illustrations in this supersaurus story for dinosaur lovers — and believers — everywhere.

Christmas is coming to Dinosaur Town, and Ollie, Molly, and Milo are writing their letters to Santasaurus. Ollie wishes for a dinobot. Molly asks for a dinocycle. All Milo wants is to meet Santasaurus and fly in his sleigh. Later there's Christmas shopping with Momosaurus — "What hustle and bustle and squoosh!" — and plenty of wrapping and decorating on Christmas Eve. But when nighttime comes, will Santasaurus make Ollie's, Molly's, and Milo's wishes come true?

Genres: Christmas, Picture Books, Dinosaurs, Childrens, Holiday

32 pages, Paperback

First published September 13, 2005

Reviews

[Christina Reid · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up because I love Niamh Sharkey's illustrations, I love dinosaurs and I am always looking for more books to add in to my Christmas book advent calendar which I read with my pupils in the lead-up to Christmas. This is a really fun book with colourful illustrations and enough dinosaurs to keep any dinosaur fan happy.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely lovely and magical.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute (but very basic) Christmas story for younger listeners, especially if they love dinosaurs. Bonus, there's a Molly character!

[Katt Hansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm finally getting caught up on my Christmas book reviews and am glad I started with this one, because it was so much fun. I liked the Momosaurus and Dadosaurus and all the little sauruses in this book. It's kind of fun to read out loud, the pictures are bright and cheerful, and while the story might not be especially new, the fact that it's all about dinosaurs gives the story a fresh and fun feel.

While this isn't going to become your new Christmas classic, or one to track down and own unless you have a kid that's really into dinosaurs, I'd say it's certainly worth grabbing from the library like we did and adding it into your Christmas rotation leading up to the holiday.

[jennie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my the memories!!!! I found this whilst putting up the decorations today and I decided to take a trip down memory lane. The illustrations were still as pretty and fun as I remembered and the storyline is still just as cute as well. I remember just loving this book as a kid and taking it everywhere with me

[Eleanor W · Rating 4 out of 5]

as far as christmas books I have read this year, this one ranks as one of the highest. I think the dinos are drawn darling as well.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of a young dinosaur who wants to help Santasaurus deliver gifts on Christmas eve. It is a cute story with nice illustrations that is sure to please dinosaur lovers.

[Michele Hermansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute, with the dinosaur theme. But not a classic. Unless of course your child is into dinosaurs. They may feel differently.

[Noa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This year I was hungry for christmas and winter related illustrated books. Last summer, I created a vimeo account in order to keep in a same place the videos that I liked. As anyone could imagine, my first searches were "bookshop" and "library". Then, I found this amazing video about an uber sweet illustrator that was decorating the windows of one Dublin bookshop with the help of lots of young kids. There was glitter all around the shop, and I thought... what a fantastic world! She was Niamh Sharkey.

Before christmas arrived this year, I found Santasaurus for a more than reasonable price. The word "bargain" fits better. Once it arrived home I couldn't help but read it immediately. It contains a fantastic imaginary world crowded by dinosaurs. It is, in fact, a book that you can read in minutes, but you can spend hours with the illustrations.

Loved it!

[Candice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book for my nephews as a Christmas present this year along with some dinosaur stuffed animals. Overall, I'm pleased with the purchase. Amazon's range of 3 - 7 years seems a little high in my opinion. It's not really a good book for the kids to read to themselves since (I feel) it requires a great deal of tone and emphasis to properly tell the story. It's very simple and short but the brevity is perfect for the 3 - 5 range. The word selection is adorable and other family members I showed the book to all specifically loved "dinodeer" in place of reindeer.

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars - cute Christmas story for dino-obsessed pre-k-ers.

[B.E. Ringer Ringer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute read for the kiddos! Great pictures and a fun story.

[Selah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best line: "What hustle and bustle and squoosh!"