View source for Can You Draw the Dragosaur? by Peter Lynas and Charlie Roberts

{{infobox1
|title=Can You Draw the Dragosaur?
|author=Peter Lynas and Charlie Roberts
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=Crafts
|summary=A children's colouring books with added extras.  Great fun!
|rating=4.5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=No
|pages=24
|publisher=Made-Up Books
|date=November 2015
|isbn=978-0993340307
|website=http://www.peterlynas.com/
|cover=099334030X
|aznuk=099334030X
|aznus=099334030X
}}

You're going to get a hint of what this book's about very quickly.  When you see the title page, you'll find out what the book's called and that it's been written by Peter Lynas.  Then we move on to who has done the illustration - and there's a gap.  ''You'' are going to put your name there.  It's ''your'' responsibility to provide the pictures for this book about one of the largest creatures ever to roam the earth.  There's some help available, but your name is on the title page - and you have work to do!

On the first double-page spread you'll get an idea of the size of the dragosaur.  We start with a mouse, move on to a human, then T.Rex, who was large but not as large as an oak tree.  Then we have the dragosaur, who is so big that he dwarfs the oak tree and, in fact, you can't see all of him.  You'll need to add some extra lines to the pictures, but don't worry there are gentle indications of what needs to go where.

On the next spread we get to see a little more of this giant and this time you'll need to add the tongue and teeth.  We're told that the teeth are terrible and the tongue is like a saw.  There are hints about what else you'll need to do, too:

''He had a big long tail and a spiny back'',<br>
''His scales were red and his claws were black''.

The next picture will require some ''long pointy horns and leathery wings'' as well as the rear legs.  (Have you spotted yet that's you're building up quite a repertoire of dragosaur parts which you're going to be able to use yourself?  Good - before long you'll need to draw your own dragosaur!)  Next you're going to add some scenery - and then you'll set fire to it.  That's what dragosaurs were in the habit of doing, you know.  And if you play with fire you've got to be very careful... Because, you see, the dragosaur wasn't very bright.  He didn't have a very big brain and certainly wasn't as bright as you are.

There's a lot of fun to be had in this book, which isn't surprising as it's been very carefully thought out.  The basics are all there.  The font is clear and perfect for the emerging reader, with vocabulary which is challenging but not unreasonably so.  Although the child will put their name as the illustrator the outlines have been drawn by Charlie Roberts and she's drawn pictures which are not too challenging but still deliver a satisfying result.  I liked too the inclusion of a couple of dot-to-dot pictures - a subtle way of including a little gentle number work!  Gutters are always a problem with colouring books - for adults or children - but they've been handled carefully on the three double-page spreads.  You'd have to look carefully to see the join!

If I was being very picky I'd comment that the paper in the book is not very thick, but you can get around this by using crayons instead of paints.  I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

We've seen the Peter Lynas/Charlie Roberts combination before in [[Madeleine Goes to the Moon by Peter Lynas and Charlie Roberts|Madeleine Goes to the Moon]].

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[[Category:Peter Lynas]] [[Category:Charlie Roberts]] [[Category:Emerging Readers]]