Empathy Collection Discovery Tour 2026
What is EmpathyLab?
Empathy-Boosting Book Choice: The Dinosaur Next Door
The team at EmpathyLab invited us to choose one of the titles in the collection to showcase as a brilliant empathy-boosting recommendation as part of their 2026 Discovery Tour.
The collection already includes several BooksForTopics favourites, with the panel having selected books that also feature on our own KS3 booklists, Primary Year Group Recommended Reads and EYFS booklists.
There were plenty of superb options to pick from, and we have selected The Dinosaur Next Door, which was chosen by our Review Panel as a Favourite Storytime choice from our Recommended Year 1 Reading List.
The Dinosaur Next Door by David Litchfield is a beautifully illustrated picture book asking the question: what if your quiet neighbour was secretly a dinosaur?
A young girl called Liz knows her neighbour’s secret identity, but none of the grown-ups will listen. After a little gentle sleuthing, Liz uncovers a spectacular, magical world of dinosaurs where her enormous friend truly belongs.
With Litchfield’s expressive illustrations that capture the wonder of discovery, this delightful story explores themes of acceptance and understanding others.
Liz learns to embrace others for who they are, making this dinosaur story a wonderful addition to any KS1 library.
The Dinosaur Next Door is available to purchase online from Amazon or from Bookshop.org.
For more information about the Read for Empathy collection, please visit the EmpathyLab website.
For more Year 1 books, head to our brand new Year 1 Booklist.
Where next:
> Visit our Reading for Pleasure Hub
> Browse our Topic Booklists
> View our printable year group booklists.
> See our Books of the Month.