Blog #19

When Dinosaurs Came with Everything

Written by: Elise Broach

Illustrated by: David Small

Atheneum Books for Young Readers

2007

34 pages

Modern Fantasy

            I chose this book because it is funny and has a lot of imagination!  When Dinosaurs Came with Everything is a work of modern fantasy in which the characters are in an unusual situation with exaggerated events that take place.  The book is about a little boy who is tired of going on boring errands with his mom.  But one Friday, while they were doing their normal bakery pickup, here was a sign that read ‘buy a dozen and get a dinosaur free.’  The little boy and his mom were very surprised to receive a real dinosaur before they left with their doughnuts.  No longer was this a normal, boring day.  All over town that the little boy and his mom visit, they somehow acquire another free dinosaur that proceeds to follow them around the city.  By the time they arrive home they have three dinosaurs and the mother is very upset about the situation.  Well, until she discovers that the dinosaurs can help do chores around the house.  Then the dinosaurs were welcome to stay in the back yard.

David Small is the illustrator of this book.  Throughout the book Small used a variety of single page and double page spreads along with formal text placement.  The entire story is written from the little boy’s perspective and the pictures depict the situation from his perspective as well.  Most of the illustrations are hilarious and help explain the text in a humorous way.  Small used bold lines to differentiate between elements in his illustrations.  He used very light, calming shades of yellow, green, purple, and blue throughout the book.  It appears to be created using water colors and ink.

This book is appropriate for students in kindergarten to fourth grade.  This book should be read aloud to younger children, but it is very appropriate for their age group.  Older children would also be engaged with the subject of the book: dinosaurs!  I would use this book in my classroom when studying dinosaurs in a science or history lesson.  There are many types of dinosaurs depicted along with their formal names.  This would also be a great book to talk about onomatopoeia.  The book contains words such as thud and flap.  This book could also be used to discuss what could really happen and what elements of the story are fantasies.  I like this book because it is enjoyable to read.  This book has won no awards.