Oliver Doliver’s Dinosaur Comes to Stay | 5* Review

Title: Oliver Doliver’s Dinosaur Comes to Stay

Author: Papa Perkins

Rating: 3 stars

Dates read: 25 Jan 20

Publication date: 06 Feb 20

Publisher: Clink Street Publishing

Genre(s): Children’s, Picture Books

Description:

Oliver Deliver (who is really just Oliver but he does like having both names) will be mostly Oliver in this story. Oliver is six years (and one month) old and has a friend who is a Dinosaur called Aya Buddn.

This is the story of how they met!

*I received a copy of this book courtesy of Clink Street Publishing as part of their Oliver Doliver blog tour*

The best thing about joining book tours is that you often read books outside your comfort zone, or that are completely off your radar. I don’t have kids, and there are no young young children in my family, so I don’t see or read proper children’s books. I really like dinosaurs, so when I saw this going the rounds I had to get involved and here we are.

Now, I have to start by addressing the seemingly blasé rating right off the bat. Look, I can’t say it’s higher than that because I don’t think I can appreciate a children’s book like this as anything more than a children’s book like this. It was pretty short, and aimed for young children, so there wasn’t a huge amount to sink your teeth into or get over the top excited about, and I haven’t read this to a child or as a child, so I just couldn’t rate it higher than middle of the road.

That said, the book was funny and heart warming and genuine. The idea of having a dinosaur come to stay in your house as your friend is most children’s (and a lot of adults who won’t care to admit it) dream, and so I like that Perkins used this to extend the idea of an imaginary friend as something more than a person. I liked their interactions, and how unsure Oliver’s parents were about the idea of an invisible friend.

The art style was fairly primitive which I think was something that fit with the story and I enjoyed. I liked the pencil effect and the literal colouring in of the characters and thought it added a homely feel. The use of comic sans I could have done without, but the book felt fun and friendly and everything you hope it would be.

OK so I can’t say I would jump for the next book, but I have recommended it to friends with young kids and can’t wait to see how their faces light up when they read it.