🇳🇿 NZ Children’s Book Week · 15–21 Aug 2026 · 🇦🇺 CBCA Book Week · 22–28 Aug 2026
DINOTHAW’s Gondwana setting is a natural fit for both weeks.
DINOTHAW
The Search for the Coldest Dinosaur
A chapter-book adventure grounded in real palaeontology. For curious 7–12 year-olds.
- 🦕 Junior–Middle chapter book · ~16,000 words
- 📖 Flesch Reading Level 80.5 (easy-read)
- 🎒 Ages 7–12 · classroom and read-aloud friendly
Also available on Amazon.
“Dinosaurs in Antarctica? You must have rocks — or ice — in your head.”
That’s what Josh thinks when his dad Steve mentions the trip. Then a small plane lands him on the ice, and Josh finds out just how wrong he was. DINOTHAW is the story of a real place, a real geological history, and one boy who ends up in the middle of a bone recovery he was never meant to be part of.
Why this book is different
🧊 It’s real.
Antarctica really did have dinosaurs — Gondwana connected it to Australia 200 million years ago. I know because I went there in 2005 and stood on the same ice the story is set on.
📚 It reads like a movie.
Kids tell me they can “picture the story and the characters, pretty much everything you can imagine.” — Ashton, age 9. Short chapters, cinematic pacing, no filler.
🎓 Teachers can actually use it.
Flesch 80.5 means confident 7-year-olds and reluctant 10-year-olds both get through it. Free lesson plan and curriculum notes below.
Not sure yet? Read Chapter 1 free.
Josh’s phone call with his dad. The moment he finds out he’s going to Antarctica. The moment he realises he might be in over his head. That’s the first pages of DINOTHAW — read them right now, no email required.
If you love it, DINOTHAW is on Booktopia here.
Watch the trailer
90 seconds. Watch this with your kid — they’ll tell you if it’s the next book they want.
A taste of the story
“Oh yeah – what did he want?” Josh was curious and wanted to know more.
“There’s a team going to Antarctica to get some dinosaur bones out. They’re looking for a rigger to give ’em a hand.”
“What! When?” Josh wanted to find out more. One of the things he remembered from the dig was Karl talking about Gondwana, explaining how Australia used to be part of a massive land mass that eventually became Africa, South America and Antarctica. Back then Antarctica had been directly connected to Australia, and Karl was sure there would be dinosaur bones there that could reveal a lot about how dinosaurs evolved after the land mass split up.
What readers are saying
“Wow! Wow! Wow! It had suspense and funny paragraphs, action, everything you would want in a book! You could even make it into a movie.”
— Ashton, age 9
“One very knowledgeable author. Well done Rose. I loved the epilogue!”
— Elizabeth
“Great read, very well written — will be using this for Christmas presents.”
— Sara
DINOTHAW book review by Ashton
Wow! Wow! Wow! It had suspense and funny paragraphs, action, everything you would want in a book! You could even make it into a movie… Let me just say both of these are so so so so GOOD! … The best thing about Rose’s books are that you get the picture, the story and the characters. Pretty much everything you can imagine…
I flew to Antarctica. Then I wrote this book.
In 2005 I went to Antarctica as part of a small party. I stood on ice that had once been forest.
DINOTHAW is fiction. But the palaeontology is real, the geography is real, and the Gondwana connection between Antarctica and Australia is real. My research at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs prep lab in Winton keeps me honest about the science.
Bringing DINOTHAW into the classroom
Curriculum links
- Australian Curriculum v9.0 (Years 3–6): English, Science, HASS
- New Zealand Curriculum (Levels 2–4): English, Science, Social Sciences
- Themes: continental drift, Gondwana, Antarctic geography, palaeontology, first-person narrative
More adventures in the DINO series
If DINOTHAW hooks you, there are more Josh & Kat adventures waiting.
Rose Siva - Children's Book Author 