A fun celebration of kids being kids that also fosters good bedtime habits; what’s not to like? (Board book. 2-5)
After a full day of play, even dinosaurs can benefit from a healthy bedtime routine.
A houseful of rambunctious young dinosaurs wish they could extend their playtime ’round the clock, a notion that this book’s toddler audience will have doubtless shared from time to time. “Star light, star bright, / even dinosaurs say goodnight. // They wish they may, they wish they might, / get to stay and play all night.” Three raucous, double-page scenes follow, with boisterous dinos bashing a drum, blatting on a trumpet, twanging a guitar, dancing, clomping, and jumping on beds, with every intention of “making noise the whole night through.” The artwork is charming—the brightly colored dinosaurs (all different types) are gleeful, energetic, and expressive, and to all appearances, they are having an absolutely splendid time. When the dinosaur kids cut loose in the conventionally homey setting of their room, it feels like a tamer version of Maurice Sendak’s wild rumpus, sans jungle or island. This book is about more than rumpusing, however. “Even dinosaurs say goodnight. / When it’s time, they do what’s right.” “What’s right” includes brushing one’s teeth, washing one’s face, picking up one’s toys, and climbing into a comfortable bed for a peaceful night’s rest. After all, these dinos will have a big day of loud, lively play ahead of them tomorrow. The same crew of dinos contends with being confined indoors in Rain, Rain, Go Away, the Dinosaurs All Want to Play.
A fun celebration of kids being kids that also fosters good bedtime habits; what’s not to like? (Board book. 2-5)Pub Date: Feb. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4867-1557-2
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Flowerpot Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
It’s a bit hard to dance, or count, to this beat.
Dinos that love to move and groove get children counting from one to 10—and perhaps moving to the beat.
Beginning with a solo bop by a female dino (she has eyelashes, doncha know), the dinosaur dance party begins. Each turn of the page adds another dino and a change in the dance genre: waltz, country line dancing, disco, limbo, square dancing, hip-hop, and swing. As the party would be incomplete without the moonwalk, the T. Rex does the honors…and once they are beyond their initial panic at his appearance, the onlookers cheer wildly. The repeated refrain on each spread allows for audience participation, though it doesn’t easily trip off the tongue: “They hear a swish. / What’s this? / One more? / One more dino on the floor.” Some of the prehistoric beasts are easily identifiable—pterodactyl, ankylosaurus, triceratops—but others will be known only to the dino-obsessed; none are identified, other than T-Rex. Packed spreads filled with psychedelically colored dinos sporting blocks of color, stripes, or polka dots (and infectious looks of joy) make identification even more difficult, to say nothing of counting them. Indeed, this fails as a counting primer: there are extra animals (and sometimes a grumpy T-Rex) in the backgrounds, and the next dino to join the party pokes its head into the frame on the page before. Besides all that, most kids won’t get the dance references.
It’s a bit hard to dance, or count, to this beat. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8075-1598-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
Amiable if slight.
In a text that can be sung to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” a young dinosaur plays with other prehistoric friends and gets ready for bed.
In this companion piece to Twinkle, Twinkle Unicorn (2019), each double-page spread features a friendly, green theropod with rosy cheeks watching pink pterosaurs fly, using a sauropod’s tail as a sliding board, and watching volcanoes explode in the night sky. As the sun sets, the dinosaur yawns and heads back home to two larger dinosaurs, one pink with eyelashes and one blue without, who appear to be mama and papa dinosaur respectively (did color stereotyping based on gender exist 65 million years ago? And why isn’t the protagonist dinosaur mauve?). Waring has arguably created the most benign and affable dinosaurs possible, with their perpetual smiles, rounded horns and teeth, oversized eyes, and brightly colored hides. Weighing in at only a slight 16 pages, the book runs through two modified verses of the classic, and the first scans quite fluidly. The second stanza feels a little forced to make it fit into the bedtime theme: “Twinkle, twinkle dinosaur, / the day is done. / It’s time to snore.”
Amiable if slight. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: May 28, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5344-3975-7
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 25, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
