NEVER ASK A DINOSAUR TO DINNER

Rhyming text and boisterous art combine to deliver a string of humorous mini–cautionary tales leading up to a peaceful bedtime.

Opening spreads explain that it’s a poor idea to invite a dinosaur to dinner “Because a T. rex is ferocious / And his manners are atrocious, / And you’ll find that if he’s able… // He will eat the kitchen table!” The art accompanying this text depicts a young boy observing the T. Rex’s dinnertime antics while his mother looks on, aghast, and then faints. The text makes no comment regarding race or culture, but the illustrations depict mother and child with brown skin and dark hair—and these aren’t pusillanimous, tokenistic representations that give way to multicultural depictions of diverse children in subsequent scenes. Instead, ensuing pages follow the same boy through his nighttime routine and warn against sharing one’s toothbrush with a shark, letting a beaver in a sink, using a tiger for a towel, choosing a bison for a blanket and letting a barn owl in one’s bed. Humorous consequences for such scenarios are described in the text while illustrations rendered in bright colors and with energetic lines enhance the comic mood. As the boy hunkers down for sleep at book’s end, a teddy bear is deemed an acceptable animal companion for drifting off to sleep, and a herd of sheep for counting creates a pleasing closing scene.

A silly bedtime read.