I’m going to review this as a series but only count it as one review. The whole series is wonderful and the books are available in hard cover or as board books for the very little ones.
This series of books by Yolen & Teague is great. I’m not really a fan of deliberately message-driven picture books. They are often heavy-handed and so boring (I’m looking at you, Berenstain Bears. Or I would be if our recent book sorting project hadn’t cleared all of your terrible books out of our house.) This series, while clearly themed, is still clever, fun and engaging. Because Dinosaurs, you guys. Dinosaurs.
There are a variety of topics from the purely educational (counting) to manners to getting along with friends and pets, to staying healthy and being safe. My favourite is How do Dinosaurs Say I’m MAD? (pictured)
Each double page spread features a different, meticulously detailed dinosaur, whose scientific name is written somewhere on his/her body. The dinosaur’s parents/ friends/ family are depicted as human, so obviously the dinosaur represents the reader (or co-reader), which is awesome. The text is a series of rhyming questions about the dinosaur’s behaviours, that your co-reader can answer:
“How does a dinosaur act when he’s mad? Does roar, slam the door, yell at Mom or at Dad?”
NOOO!
A series of undesirable temper tantrums are presented to be rejected. At the end of the book, appropriate behaviours are demonstrated:
“No… a dinosaur doesn’t– he counts up to ten, then after a time out, breathes calmly… and then…”
… he tidies up and apologizes. Our dinosaur is given tools to calm down and an opportunity to make amends. “Not mad? I’m so glad, little dinosaur!”
Rhyming is fun, you guys. Call and response is an amazing learning tool. There’s a reason so many childrens’ songs are so repetitive and catchy. It works!
I want to mention also that these books celebrate diversity, which I appreciate. People of colour are presented as Moms, Dads, friends, family, doctors, teachers, etc, within the same book. This is not the case in far too many picture books. You can find books with people of colour or with white people, but its rare to find truly diverse books. I’m reading these books to my white Squishies in a diverse neighbourhood, I want their books to reflect the world around them. With dinosaurs.