I’m Michael Savva, dad to Jude and Arabella, and alongside my amazing wife Hannah, I’ve spent the last few years navigating the wonderful, funny and sometimes slightly chaotic world of family life.
When Jude was around two years old, dinosaurs became a bit of an obsession.
Suddenly, we were learning dinosaur names together, visiting dinosaur attractions whenever we could and talking about T-Rex, Triceratops and Stegosaurus at every opportunity.
And somewhere along the way, we started making up our own stories.
At bedtime, in the car or just while playing, we would create little adventures together. The dinosaurs would dance, get themselves into trouble, make each other laugh and usually learn something along the way.
There was only one problem.
I could never remember the story exactly the same way twice.Jude could.
If I changed a bit, missed something out or told it differently from the night before, I would very quickly be corrected!
So I decided it might be a good idea to start writing them down.
And that was really where everything began.
From bedtime stories to My Dinosaur Universe
What started as a few stories between a dad and his son gradually became something much bigger.
We would read them together, change bits, add jokes and come up with new adventures. As Arabella joined our little family, storytelling became something we could all enjoy together.
That eventually grew into My Dinosaur Universe.
The idea is simple: create colourful, funny dinosaur stories based around the sorts of moments, feelings and experiences children encounter in everyday life.
But underneath all the stomping, dancing and dinosaur chaos, there is always something more.
Every story has a positive idea at its heart.
It might be having the confidence to be yourself. Learning that things do not always have to go perfectly. Looking forward to tomorrow. Trying something new. Helping your friends. Or simply remembering to enjoy the moment you are in.
I wanted the books to contain the sorts of messages I would be happy for my own children to grow up hearing, without ever making the stories feel like a lesson.
First and foremost, they should be fun.
Making learning fun
One of the things Jude loved most about dinosaurs was learning what made each one different.
Their names might seem enormous to a two year old, but when those names are connected to a funny character, a colourful picture and something memorable about that dinosaur, suddenly they become much easier to learn.
That became an important part of My Dinosaur Universe too.
In Dinosaur Disco, for example, the dinosaurs are deliberately introduced using their proper names, while the story and illustrations help children recognise some of their most memorable features.
Tiny arms & enormous teethStegosaurus
Famous back platesSpinosaurus
A huge sailTriceratops
Three hornsAnkylosaurus
Armour & spikes
To a child, those little details can turn a complicated dinosaur name into something they recognise and remember.
That is exactly what I saw happen with Jude.
The more we talked about dinosaurs, spotted their differences and repeated their names together, the more fascinated he became.
So wherever we can, we try to weave little opportunities to learn into the stories without interrupting the adventure.
Because learning does not always need to feel like learning. Sometimes it can just feel like having fun with dinosaurs.
Books made for children... and the grown ups reading them
One thing I quickly discovered as a parent is that a favourite children’s book is rarely read just once.
Or twice.
Sometimes it feels closer to two hundred times.
So while every My Dinosaur Universe story is written for children, I also wanted to make the books enjoyable for the mums, dads, grandparents and grown ups reading along with them.
Parents everywhere do an incredible job, and family life can be busy. Bedtime in particular can sometimes feel like a race to get everything finished, while on other nights it becomes that lovely part of the day when everything else disappears for a few minutes and you can simply sit with your child and enjoy being together.
I hope these books can help create a few more of those moments.
Something light hearted enough to make everyone smile, playful enough to keep children interested, and enjoyable enough that reading it for the tenth time still does not feel like too much of a chore!
That is also why there is always more than just the main story to discover.
There are recurring characters, little jokes, personalities that develop from one adventure to the next and tiny details hidden throughout the illustrations.
Characters you meet in one book might pop up again in another. Something sitting quietly in the background might even be a clue to a future adventure.
And then, of course, there is the mouse...
Have you found the little mouse hiding throughout the story yet?These little extras are there to make every read slightly different and give children something new to spot even when they already know every word.
Books by Michael Savva
I’m the creator of My Dinosaur Universe, published by Michael Savva Publishing Limited. The colourful rhyming picture books are written for children aged 2–7 and the grown ups reading alongside them.
- Dinosaur Disco: A joyful rhyming adventure about confidence, friendship and being yourself. Available now.
- Dinosaur Birthday: Tricky learns that things do not have to be perfect to have the perfect time. Available now.
- Dinosaur Bedtime: Anky discovers that bedtime is not goodbye to today’s fun. It is the beginning of tomorrow’s adventures. Available now.
- Dinosaur Fireworks Night: Stego discovers the magic of sharing special moments with friends. Available now.
For a playful introduction to the real animals behind the characters, try our dinosaur spotter’s guide.
Welcome to our universe
A family story, shared with yours.
My Dinosaur Universe started with stories created for my own children, Jude and Arabella, with Hannah alongside us and part of the adventure from the very beginning.
Seeing how much our family enjoys these stories, characters and adventures made me want to share them with other families too.
So whether this is your first visit to our dinosaur world or you’ve already joined T-Rex and the gang on a few adventures, I hope the books create the same thing in your home that they created in ours:
A reason to sit together, laugh together, learn something new, spot something you missed last time and enjoy a story one more time.
Because sometimes the best adventures begin with a child, a dinosaur...
and a parent trying desperately to remember how last night’s story went.Explore the books →