Parent's Guide to Story Reading Sanity - Christmas Edition
By Jane Yolen and Mark Teague
Recommended ages: 3-6 (unless you have a dinosaur enthusiast... then any age will do)
Yeah! How do dinosaurs say “Merry Christmas”? I must confess I am not really a dinosaur fan. But... the quality of the art drew me in, and there are so many little guys and girls out there that are CRAZY about dinosaurs, plus, Mark Teague has written and illustrated other books I have loved . . . so I gave this one a chance.
Parents will enjoy this book because . . . hey, if you have child that loves dinosaurs, man, you are in for a treat. This book is creative, well written and the pictures are full of action and pending disaster. Sometimes an author goes after a niche to get the readers, but the book itself isn’t so awesome... but I must say, even if you don’t really care about dinosaurs, this is still one creative, interesting, and really quite funny adventure.
Children will enjoy this book because . . . the writing and the art are SO complimentary. For example, the author writes, “Does he pick off some ornaments, angels and all?” on the same page that the artist has painted a picture of a dinosaur tipping over the tree, an angel gripped in his claws about to be devoured. You ask the question, the picture answers it, and the kids get to freak out and tell you what they see happening. It’s usually a funny, mischievous, improbable or impossible out of control situation taking place. Kids go crazy when they see norms broken. Nothing normal happens in this book. They’re gonna love it.
I don’t regret the time I spent reading this book. Kids will also enjoy searching for the name of the dinosaur on every page, tucked away somewhere so that you can barely see it. Good luck pronouncing the names of each one!
This book gets 4 kids thumbs, 1 Dad thumbs up, and 1 Songs & Stories with Heidi thumbs up!