I Speak Dinosaur!

PreS-Gr 2—Thinking that dinosaurs are exempt from using manners, a small boy decides to "speak dinosaur" and growl at everyone he meets. When invited to play, he roars and scares his friends away. Soon, Mama has had enough of this behavior and sends him out to play on his own. That's when he realizes being alone is no fun. Then he encounters dinosaurs that know the value of good manners, and, by the end of the story, he actually does speak dinosaur. Delightful illustrations done in pen-and-ink on watercolor paper show the dinosaur at its scariest; even the shadows are frightful, which might be a turnoff for some children. Just the right amount of text makes this an enjoyable book for reading aloud. The lesson is a simple but important one—play nice, even if you have sharp teeth and can growl if you want to.—Janene Corbin, Rosebank Elementary School, Nashville, TN