Dinosaur devotees will devour this imaginative take-off on the much-parodied holiday rhyme, with this rendition set in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The story features the museum’s dinosaurs and a little boy who lives directly across the street. He is awakened on Christmas Eve by noises coming from the museum and joins the dinosaurs in their holiday celebration. The dinosaurs grow fantastic rainbow-hued scales and feathers on this magical night and suspend their natural tendencies to eat each other, snacking on pterosaur-shaped gingerbread instead. The dinosaurs and the little boy dance around a Yule log, sing holiday songs, decorate a tree and welcome Santasaurus and his eight “dino-deer.” Children will enjoy Hale’s exuberant illustrations, the large trim size allowing some huge views of dinosaurs in mid-celebration in the museum and in mid-flight with Santasaurus. The final pages of text present the words to dinosaur carols (more parodies, in the vein of “Hark! The Pterodactyls Sing”), and a CD of the songs and story text is also included. (Picture book. 4-9)
