The Dinosaur Who Lived in My Backyard

Hennessy's picture book pulls off a tricky balancing act — it starts as pure childhood imagination (a dinosaur next to the sandbox) and slides seamlessly into real paleontology facts, giving kids both the wonder and the learning without feeling like a lecture. Four decades of paleontology advances mean some of the science is dated, but the emotional logic of the book holds up beautifully for 4-8 year olds. A sustained backlist presence with a TeacherVision recommendation says everything about its staying power.