Back to School: Dinosaur Vs.School by Bob Shea

ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!

It's the first day of school, and Dinosaur has all the right stuff. He's got a snazzy retro plaid jacket and a cool lunch box.

He's got a comeback for every remark. (ROAR! ROAR!)

And he's got ... enthusiasm!

Meeting new friends? No problem with that forceful personality and grin!

DINOSAUR WINS!

Playing dress-up? Dinosaur takes charge, decked out as a policeman.

Art?

Dinosaur spreads the glue, sprinkles the glitter with abandon, and winds up with googly stick-on eyes stuck all over his body. Here's lookin' at you, guys!

Dinosaur wins again.

School snacks?

No sweat for Dinosaur to chomp the "monkey snacks." Slurp! Apple slices are history! Gobble! Raisins all gone already. Crunch! Pretzels? No problem-o! Dino wins again!

Music class?

Dino is practically a one-man band. Guitar? He can strum it. Drum? He can beat it. Accordion?He can squeeze like you wouldn't believe! Roar! Roar! Roar!

There's just one school task that stops Dinosaur and his classmates in their tracks, horrified!

SOMETHING THEY HAVE NEVER DONE BEFORE!

IT'S TOO MUCH FOR DINOSAUR!

It's clean-up time in the old schoolroom. But before Dinosaur can squeeze out more than one ROAR! he gets the idea. He leads the others in a whirlwind tidying up time, with everyone pitching in to leave the classroom spotless for the second day of school! Two ROARS for day two!

EVERYONE WINS!

Everyone roars as they head out the doors, in Bob Shea's back-to-school-themed Dinosaur vs. School (A Dinosaur vs. Book) (Hyperion Books, 2014). While this one in Shea's popular series lacks the visceral humor and focus of his earlier entries, he does a fine job of introducing first-timers to the activities to be expected in school, showing that an enthusiastic can-do attitude can go a long way on the big day. For a less bravura intro to school, pair this one with Eric Litwin and James Dean's equally positive (and best-selling) Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes (read my 2011 review here) which covers the same territory in a bit more detail, plus a sing-along tune to help move those first wary steps through the schoolroom door.