READ TO ME/OPINION
‘How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodbye?’
Written by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Mark Teague (Scholastic, Sept. 28), 3-5 years, 40 pages, $17.99 hardcover.
The enduring mysteries of paleontology include why the dinosaurs never said goodbye. We don’t know why they vanished, but they left behind a lot of fossilized parts for paleontologists and 5-year-olds to poke and ponder. To kids who have opinions about that, this story could seem really, really strange … if we hadn’t already read them the authors’ earlier books about dinosaurs.
For instance, we’ve read “How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night?” and “How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You?” and “How Do Dinosaurs Show Good Manners?” and “How Do Dinosaurs Say Merry Christmas?” and “How Do Dinosaurs Say Happy Chanukah? and “How Do Dinosaurs Stay Safe? and “How Do Dinosaurs Choose Their Pets?” and “How Do Dinosaurs Learn Their Colors?” and “How Do Dinosaurs Clean Their Rooms?” and “How Do Dinosaurs Play With Their Friends?” and …
These are not science-minded dinosaur books, but they are sweet and useful. Aimed at preschoolers, they combine gentle good advice with very cute humor.
And if we haven’t already read them to some toddler somewhere, we have no excuse. There are more than 19 million copies in print.
Preschoolers are famously prone to infatuation with all things dinosaur, but be aware that junior scientists will reject these books as babyish. They would have infuriated my little Jack Horner. I remember how he lectured me about the cartoon brontosaur on a kiddy coloring sheet in a restaurant. The shape was “Wrong! That’s wrong! All wrong!” And then I got an earful about how “widick-a-us” it was that somebody wanted to change the name of the bwontosauwus. The very idea.
So, how do these dinosaurs say goodbye? Not graciously. They stomp, howl and even scribble on the wall. But they can tell a grownup about their feelings, and then they will feel better.