Whose Dinosaur Bones Are Those?

by Chihiro Takeuchi

With whimsy and ingenuity, cut-paper artist Chihiro Takeuchi’s second foray into “guess the animal” will delight dinosaur lovers of all ages—and fans of stylish concept books.

Whose bones? Tiny bones scattered across the spread are unidentifiable, but sharp eyes will spy footprints and food sources offered as clues. Now turn the page, and the bones have magically formed into a recognizable skeleton—Pteranodon or Stegosaurus, Velociraptor or Tyrannosaurus—while a stylized depiction of the animal completes the picture. In a final “fun facts” section, readers curious to know more will discover that the Ankylosaurus was covered in armor-like plates, an average-size Allosaurus weighed about as much as a car, and several more child-friendly tidbits.

Genres: Picture Books, Dinosaurs, Nonfiction, Animals, Childrens

40 pages, Hardcover

Published May 9, 2023

About the author

Chihuro Takeuchi is a renowned cut-paper artist and the creator of several books. Colors is her third children’s book in English. She lives in Osaka, Japan.

Reviews

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Would have been perfect during her dinosaur phase - bones are all jumbled up and it’s a guessing game to what kind of Dino they belong to. Super cute, she would have been CRAZY about this when she was about 3.

[Kelly]

I was actually able to guess a couple of the dinosaurs based on bones! The skull really helps, but some common shapes help, too. And then there were "dinosaurs" I'd never heard of. Backmatter tells you which are true dinosaurs and which aren't.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely a creative title from Chihiro Takeuchi who uses cut paper shapes for the illustrated dinosaur bones spread across an entire page to entice us to guess which dinosaur will appear on the following page. I didn’t guess any correctly. I did much better with Chihiro’s title, Whose Bones are Those which awere common animal skeletons. Chihiro is a very talented artist from Japan. Recommend this title to every dinosaur lover you know whatever their age, basically the title is a visual puzzle. Delightful and makes one think.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightfully whimsical "guess the animal" concept book from cut-paper artist Chihiro Takeuchi sure to please all young dinosaur fans.

[kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exquisite cut-paper artwork.

[Pinky · Rating 3 out of 5]

An inside look at dinosaurs.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool concept! Readers try to identify common dinosaurs by a scattered image of their bones. Kids who love dinosaurs will dig this for sure.

[Elizabeth]

I only got 2 correct (and 1 of those was already assembled), but after reading this, I looked up Chihiro Takeuchi and am now a fan.

[H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kudos to the author for cutting out all the bones! Read the book and you'll appreciate the hardwork and precision too. You'll see what I mean.

[Steph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Turn/Level: B(2)/2

Dinosaurs

A get the kid to look carefully and guess the dinosaur exercise. For the younger kids, creating some kind of cheat sheet could be helpful.