On the Night Before Christmas: How Do Dinosaurs Say Merry Christmas? by Jane Yolen

On the eve of the big day, there’s no mother’s child who never gets hyper, antsy or wild. So what does a dinosaur do when it’s time to nestle snugly in bed?

DOES HE EAT ALL THE COOKIES LEFT OUT FOR ST. NICK?
DOES HE GIVE ALL THE CANDY CANES ONE SLOPPY LICK?

It’s that time of year when kids alternate between being angelic and slightly crazed, and in Jane Yolen’s and Mark Teague’s latest saurian saga, How Do Dinosaurs Say Merry Christmas? (Blue Sky Press, 2012), those dino kids are shown doing all those wild and crazy things inspired by the season. As in all of their elegant etiquette lessons, unusual dinosaur juveniles are shown, potentially doing all the things that no one wants them to do at the holiday season–dumping the contents of the stockings on the floor, breaking the ornaments and knocking down the just-decorated tree. Is that how a dinosaur should say “Merry Christmas, Mom and Dad”?

Of course not.

HE CAROLS WITH CARE.
HE HELPS TRIM THE TREE
SO NO BRANCHES ARE BARE!

And when it’s about time for Santa to come to town, he goes up to bed with nary a frown. And when Santa’s sleigh lands and the snow lies deep, he’s upstairs in bed and sound asleep. At least, that what good little dinos do in the latest of Yolen’s How Do Dinosaurs...series, as told in Yolen’s meter-perfect verses and Mark Teague’s delightful illustrations, which show unusual dinosaurs (such as a gorgeously red and green feathered gigantoraptor) and which, as always, provide the name of each ditzy dinosaur concealed somewhere in the large two-page spreads for sharp-eyed kids to spy out, as well as reprised in their dinosaur-studded endpapers.

After many titles in their trademark series, Yolen and Teague have not lost their touch. How Do Dinosaurs Say Merry Christmas? offers a subtle exposition on the right way to do St. Nick and Mom and Dad proud on Christmas Eve. “Uproarious hypotheticals,” as Publishers Weekly succinctly puts it

For a dynamic dino drama duo, pair this one with Yolen's and Teague’s brand-new companion book, How Do Dinosaurs Say Happy Chanukah? (Blue Sky Press, 2012).

Three Little Words: How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You? by Jane Yolen

Dinner was a disaster! You made such a mess!
Did you stay up past bedtime? The answer was YES!

But when you smiled sweetly and held back your roar,
When you kiss me and hug me, once, twice, even more...

That's when you give love, and I know this is true.
Because that's how a dinosaur says "I Love You!"

In their ninth collaboration in this series, Jane Yolen and Mark Teague once more successfully explore the ways preschoolers try their parents' patience and yet win their hearts all over again.

Kicking the back of the driver's seat, flooding the bathroom as they play in the sink, throwing sand from the sandbox, all those annoying behaviors that try parents' souls are illustrated engagingly by artist Mark Teague in the now familiar style as a variety of moms and dads cope with spilling sippy cups, grumpy awakenings, and missed naps when their offspring show their inner beasts.

What's a parent to do? Well, confront the misdeed squarely, but love the mis-doer, and in this now familiar format, that's what happens in How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You? (Blue Sky Press, 2009). But little dinosaurs have their lovable sides, as well, and when all is said and done, "That IS how dinosaurs say "I Love You!"

The various dinosaurs are featured on the book's endpapers, and, as is his custom, Mark Teague also hides the name of each dinosaur within each double-page spread, all ten of them, from Antaretosaurus to Tsintaosaurus, to add to the fun. Good for Valentine's Day and any bedtime night, this latest in their How Do Dinosaurs.... series makes a great pair with Yolen's and Teague's How Do Dinosaurs Play With Their Friends?

Breaking Bad? How Do Dinosaurs Stay Friends? by Jane Yolen

HOW DOES A DINOSAUR KEEP HIS BEST FRIEND

WHEN A TERRIBLE FIGHT JUST MIGHT BE THE END?

Making up is hard to do.

When young dinosaur friends have a fuss, it can be a beaut!

DOES HE WRITE ON THE BLACKBOARD A VERY BAD NAME?

DOES HE TELL ALL THE KIDS THAT HIS FRIEND IS TO BLAME?

Even the best of friends can get into a disagreement that can turn ugly. When he's angry, a dinosaur may do outrageously shocking things--tearing up his friend's book, throwing his lunchbox in the pond, even egging his door to settle the score.

Is this the way to keep a friend?

NO.

All friends fall out of friendship with each other from time to time, but Jane Yolen's latest in series, How Do Dinosaurs Stay Friends? (Blue Sky Press, 2016), takes on the tasking of making up after breaking up.

HE SENDS A NICE NOTE TAKING MOST OF THE BLAME.

HE'S SURPRISED WHEN HE FINDS THAT HIS FRIEND DID THE SAME.

Yolen's friendly rhyming couplets portray the ways youngsters can make peace after a squabble--sharing a new toy at a special playdate, making and taking homemade cookies over on a plate, all the ways of saying "Can't we still be friends?" As always in this popular series, Yolen's text and Mark Teague's super-sized illustrations provide the ying and yang of the situation, first the worst alternatives, followed by the preferred examples, done up in Teague's comic style, a spoonful of sugar that takes the sting out of the proffered how-tos of personal life. Making making up a bit easier is the premise of the latest Yolen and Teague collaboration, and as is their custom, Yolen and and Teague offer esoteric examples of dinosaurs, identified on each page and reproduced on the eye-catching endpapers for dino afficionados.

Pair this latest with Yolen's and Teague's recent in their dynamite How Do Dinosaurs series, How Do Dinosaurs Stay Safe? (Blue Sky Press, 2015).

Procuring the Perfect Pet? How Do Dinosaurs Choose Their Pets? by Jane Yolen

How does a dinosaur choose a pet?

Does he head to the zoo
and take home a big cat?

And what does his mom
have to say about that?

Picking a pet takes some pondering. You can't just go stalking around in the jungle with a net, or raiding the tiger enclosure for a pet you'll never forget. There is a lot to consider in getting a critter--size, temperament, and need for containment. And how about diet?

Does she carry off tortoises, zebras, a mink?
Give them hay,
and a cola to drink?

How many wrong ways are there to pick a pet? Jane Yolen's and Mark Teague's latest book in their long-running How Do Dinosaurs series, How Do Dinosaurs Choose Their Pets? (Blue Sky/Scholastic Press, 2017), with tongue-well-in-cheek, takes a peek at some definitely esoteric dinosaurs--Coahuiaceratops, Rhinorex, Diamantinasaurus, and the way-cool Dianzhousaurus--doing it all wrong, from snatching a shark to keep in a pail to draggin' a wagonload of elephant home. I ask you, would a good dinosaur do that?

No, a dinosaur doesn't!

She knows what to do.
She would never bring anything
home from the zoo.

Dinosaurs know that getting a perfect pet doesn't begin with a raid or a snatch.

They know there are better ways to to make a good match.

Yolen and Teague recommend reliable pet stores, animal rescue centers, farms, or friends to find a pet that can be loved and taught good manners, all good advice for prospective pet owners. Jane Yolen puts her popular poetic skills to work in her catchy rhythms and rhyming lines, and with Mark Teague's big, bold, page-dominating paintings of dinosaurs exhibiting improbable and perhaps disastrous pet choices, pet-seeking kids will chuckle at the preposterous possibilities, while the comic but detailed illustrations of exotic ancient reptiles will delight the dino-loving reader.

As is their custom, the names of the featured dinosaur on each double-page spread is hand-labeled near each big beast--except for one, which will send close-reading, savvy dinosaur devotees to Yolen's and Teague's trademark end papers for thumbnail drawings and the names for each one, including the covert creature in question. This book is definitely a first purchase for children's collections on many levels, pleasing preschoolers who dote on dinosaurs, young independent readers who can handle Yolen's easy-going text with its visual and sound-alike clues, older primary readers who love the irony of prodigious dinos procuring odd pets, and scholarly fans who can add some newly discovered species to their vocabularies.

Anger Management: How Do Dinosaurs Say "I'm Mad by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague

HOW DOES A DINOSAUR ACT WHEN HE'S MAD?

DOES HE ROAR, SLAM THE DOOR, YELL AT MOM OR DAD?

If he's a Barapasaurus, he certainly does! When his sister sticks her little tongue out at him, he pokes his big tongue way out at her.

A baker's dozen dinosaurs act out in Jane Yolen's and Mark Teague's latest in the their best-selling series, How Do Dinosaurs Say I'm Mad! (Blue Sky Press, 2013). Pachychiresaurus slams the door, pouts, and threatens "I'll be bad!" It's too late for that threat since he already is. And as for Thecodont...

WHEN HE HEARS "TAKE A NAP!" DOES HE GIVE DIRTY LOOKS?

WHEN HE'S TOLD "QUIET DOWN!" DOES HE RIP UP HIS BOOKS?

Unfortunately, he does! In fact, angry dinosarus do it all: Afrovenator scribbles on the wall, and Scaphagnathus kicks over a chair when he's told to keep quiet, in this latest collaboration between Jane Yolen, queen of paleoetiquette, and Mark Teague, tantrum artist par excellence, Yolen and Teague stick close to their familiar format in this sequel: Teague pictures his miscreant dinos rampant as their patient but perturbed parents, ordinary humans, deal with it all, while he hides the scientific name of most of the misbehaving dinos in his four-page spreads. Author Yolen's versification never misses a beat of her dactylic feet in bouncy couplets that make these stories practically read themselves. And true to form, the last dinosaurs are perfectly behaved, showing all those mad little dinosaurs how anger management should be done.

HE SAYS, "I'M SO SORRY." HE GIVES A BIG HUG.

And for dinosaur lore lovers, as always, illustrator Teague also provides layouts of the dinosaurs, bad and mad and sweet and good, along with their scientific names, scattered artistically on the front and back endpapers. A quality addition to Yolen's and Teague's best-selling How Do Dinosaurs series.

How Do Dinosaurs Love Their Dogs? by Jane Yolen

HOW DOES A DINOSAUR
KEEP HIS DOG CLEAN?
DOES HE SCRUB IT TOO HARD?
DOES HE ACT REALLY MEAN?

Even if he's a pachycephalosaurus, a dog owner has to be kind, empathetic, and loving. In their best-selling style, Jane Yolen and Mark Teague's How Do Dinosaurs Love Their Dogs?
(Blue Sky Press, 2010) show kids how to keep their dogs happy and healthy. Feeding walking, grooming, all the nitty-gritting jobs of pet ownership are covered, with Mark Teague's winsome dinosaurs showing the wrong--and right way for a little dinosaur to love a dog.

HE LOVES HIS DEAR DOGGY,
AND DOES EVERY CHORE.
PAT IT NOW,
BOW WOW WOW--GOOD DINOSAUR

And for slightly older kids who dote on dinosaurs, rhyme, and riddles, don't miss Yolen and Teague's latest, How Do Dinosaurs Laugh Out Loud? (Cartwheel, 2010), their first dedicated joke book starring their troupe of dinosaurs.

WHAT DO YOU CALL A DINOSAUR SLEEPING IN YOUR BED?

A DINO-SNORE!!

AND HOW DOES A JOKE FAN WAKE A DINO-SNORE?

HE ASKS SWEETLY BUT LOUDLY--GIVE US MORE!!

Dino Love: How Do Dinosaurs Love Their Cats? by Jane Yolen

IS THE LITTER BOX LEFT WHILE SHE WATCHES A SHOW?

DOES SHE GIVE IT A THROW?

Well, of course not! A stinky litter box can be a real CAT-astrophe, as any feline fan can aver. In their familiar style, author Jane Yolen and artist Mark Teague first give us humorous examples of what NOT to do with resident kitties in their new board book, How Do Dinosaurs Love Their Cats? (Blue Sky Press, 2010), and then show just how loving little dinos do it:

SHE REMEMBERS TO FEED IT AND GIVE IT FRESH WATER,

AND CHANGE THE LITTER BOX JUST WHEN SHE OUGHTER!

A loving little ouranosaurus, herrerasaurus, and parasauralophus show the naughty dinos just how to make their kitties purr with delight in this delightful entry in Yolen's and Teague's best-selling How do Dinosaurs series. Catchy text and clever illustrations make this little book a bargain buy for the youngest cat fanciers.

Food Fight! How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague

How does a dinosaur
eat his food?
Does he spit out his broccoli
partially chewed?

Does he pick at his cereal,
Throw down his cup,
hoping to make someone else pick it up?

With the possible exception of bedtime bedlam, nothing gets to parents more than the daily food fight with small children. Even if (and this is a big IF--viz my recent post on sneaking nutrients into chicken nuggets, et al, in Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food),)--your child is an omnivorous and enthusiastic eater, there are still plenty of dinner table behaviors that need to be, um, reshaped in early childhood. Luckily, the team of Yolen and Teague have turned their considerable talents to this particular problem, harnessing the dynamics of deviate dinosaurs to lead kids in the way they should go.

In How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? Mark Teague's illustrations of rarely seen dinosaurs such as the quetzalcoatlus, spinosaurus, and gorgosaurus show dinosaurs engaging in all those unwanted behaviors:

Does he fuss,
does he fidget?
Does he squirm in his chair?

Does he flip his spaghetti,
high in the air?

Well, of course not. After we've had our fun watching appalled waitresses and abashed dogs and cats reacting to such abominations, Teague's dinosaurs model the best of behavior.

No.... He says, "Please"
and "Thank you.
He sits very still.

He eats all before him
with smiles
and good will.

If only! Still, Yolen's arresting rhymes and Teague's colorful, overacting dinos get kids' attention while they slip in some suggestions on how to be delightful dinosaurs at the family table. Most of the dinosaurs are identified by lettering to be searched out in each illustration, and all are shown and identified in the clever endpapers of this title in this popular series of wise and witty ways to encourage good behavior.

Dino Etiquette: How Do Dinosaurs Show Good Manners by Jane Yolen

Some dinosaurs have manners--BAD MANNERS!

Do they belch loudly at the table and throw food at each other,or spit half-chewed broccoli on the floor?

At the library, do they yell and throw books around the stacks?

On the playground, do they push each other off the top of the tallest slide? Do they sass their mothers when they're caught making mudpies in the bathtub?

NO! THEY DON'T!

THEY'RE NEVER THAT CRUDE,

AND TRY NOT TO BE RUDE!

Dinosaurs are the very picture of politeness and the essence of etiquette.

They always say "Please" and "Can I help you with that?" "You can go first. I can wait till you're done." They share toys at play and when they go, say, "Thanks, everyone!"

GOOD MANNERS GALORE, MY POLITE DINOSAUR!

Heaven knows, dinosaurs and kids need to mind their manners wherever they go, in the latest in their best selling series, How Do Dinosaurs Show Good Manners? (Blue Sky Press, 2020). With the Caldecott-winning artist Mark Teague on board with his jolly illustrations of human parents and assorted recalcitrant dino offspring, kids are off for a rhyming good time from notable author Jane Yolen. As always, illustrator Teague uses a variety of esoteric dinosaur "children" just for those geeky youngsters who pride themselves as experts at spotting various species of large prehistoric beasts to add to their paleontological vocabularies. (See the backmatter for dinosaur names in order of appearance)

The Customer Is Always Right! Down At the Dino Wash Deluxe by Tim Myers

..THIS JOB'S NO PICNIC.

YOU GOTTA KNOW THE CUSTOMERS!

NO TWO DINOSAURS ARE ALIKE.

The Dino Wash Deluxe is doing business! Dinosaurs are lined up to get their scales scrubbed shiny, and our little proprietor knows just how to keep them all happy. Ankylosaurus' many knobby protrusions require detail work. Rinsing the top of Pachycephalosaurus' big bald head necessitates a long ladder. Spinosaurus' twenty-foot-tall spines require really sudsy scrubbing and polishing. And don't even ask about all the crevices to clean on a finicky Stegosaurus!

But our little car wash manager keeps a nervous eye out for one down and dirty customer that his clients report is in town--Tyrannosaurus Rex!  He's one customer you really want to leave happy!

And then there he is, demanding the dino wash deluxe.

"GIVE ME THE WORKS" HE SNAPS.

But when our little dino scrubber comes forward with his shampoo, the T. Rex gets very testy. Could it be that this big guy is afraid of a few suds in the eye?

"IT STINGS!" HE WHIMPERS. 

How do you shampoo a Tyrannosaurus Rex? Very carefully, in Tim Myers' dandy Down at the Dino Wash Deluxe (Sterling, 2013). Myers' illustrations are big and bold and bright, with each scaly critter portrayed comically and yet authentically, with a thumbnail drawing and summary of each dinosaur appended for young dinosaur scholars. Pair this one with any of Jane Yolen's and Mark Teague's classic How Do Dinosaurs... books, such as  How Do Dinosaurs Clean Their Room? for a clean sweep of a double dino treat.

Back to School: How Do Dinosaurs Go to School? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague

How does a dinosaur
go to school?
Does he walk?
Does he ride
in a busy car pool?

In the eighth in their popular How Do Dinosaurs...? series, Yolen and Teague tackle the all important subject of school behavior. Would dinosaurs--large, burly, and scary--turn out to be the tyrant kings of schoolyard bullies? Would dinosaurs punch and roughhouse and terrorize smaller students? Would they make it hard for everyone else to learn in the classroom?

Well, Yolen and Teague tease us with some bright-colored dinosaurs that LOOK like they would be nothing but trouble for teachers and classmates--taunting the girls and picking on all the boys--but NO! In bouncy rhythm and rhyme, we learn that a dinosaur would "growl at the bullies 'til the bullying ends" and even tidy up his desk before he makes for the door at the last bell, ready for the last word in praise at home--"Good work, little dinosaur!"

Teague's illustrations of various lesser-known dinosaurs (see endpapers for identification) are as eye-catching and jazzy as ever in this picture book which is just perfect for the first day of school!

Back to the Drawing Board, Steve Spielberg! Scaly Spotted Feathery Frilled by Catherine Thimmesh

What did the dinosaurs really look like?

Since none of our kind were around to make cave paintings for us, modern paleontologists have only the fossils found all over the earth to go on. Since bones fossilize readily, most of our first ideas of dinosaurs came from skeletons, sometimes only a few bones, from which to conceptualize what the size, shape, and gait of a living dinosaur might have been.

But in the past few decades new discoveries have amazingly altered our concept of what dinosaurs were. The study of Deinonychus, with its huge curved-clawed left hind foot, convinced scientists that they must have been fleet-footed raptors, able to dispatch their prey while hopping on one leg and slashing with the other, and therefore must have been, not slow-moving, cold-blooded reptiles, but warm-blooded super athletic hunters. Then, the discovery of fossilized and later mummified dinosaur skin, including the amazingly feathered Sinosauropteryx and the melanosomes (pigment bodies) for red and brown striping on its tail, radically changed our ideas of how these beasts actually looked. While much remains to be learned about the external appearance of dinosaurs, the combined sciences of anatomy, physiology, and biology together make for much more certainty in imagining what those creatures must have looked like back in the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous eras.

Enter a new member of the dino team--the paleoartist.

"Scientific reality drives the visual image," explain Sylvia Czerkas, half of the famed Czerkas paleoart team. "It's very important for us to start with the science and then put into the image what we've learned."

Paleoartists use the fossil bones, and the plant studies, rock studies, and all the other bits of evidence discovered by the various scientists. Then they attempt to bridge the divide between "knowns" and the "unknowns."

Clearly, paleoartists have to be scientists themselves. Fossil bones show evidence of the long-gone muscles that moved them, suggesting the size and shape of the beast. Knowledge of basic anatomy, especially current related animals, help them sculpt, in their imaginations, how the creature was adapted to movement in its environment. Study of trackways, series of fossilized footprints add clues to the animal's morphology, and study of fossilized tissue, especially skin, give clues to how the animal's hide might have appeared. For example, some dinosaurs had scales, but they appeared to have not been overlapping like a snake's, but beaded, "semi-hexagonal" "a rosette-type pattern," not unlike parts of the modern-day Jackson's chameleon. Until more is discovered about the cells producing color, paleoartists can assume that dinosaur scales or primitive feathers were adapted to blend with their surroundings as do living animals today.

When Steven Spielbeg produced Jurassic Park back in 1993, his frightful raptor, Deinonychus, raced across the set clad in mottled scales, but with what we know today, if he were to film Jurassic Park IV, Denonychus would be a much different movie monster:

"At the time of Jurassic Park, feathers were unknown for any dinosaur. But now the evidence is undeniably clear that Deinonychus and many types of dinosaurs were feathered," says paleoartist Steven Czerkus.

The notable nonfiction author, Catherine Thimmesh's Scaly Spotted Feathered Frilled: How do we know what dinosaurs really looked like? (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013) gives middle readers who have moved beyond the "Yikes!" phase of fascination with the monster dinosaur an absorbing look into current dinosaur science and the work of the paleoartist in depicting its exciting findings. Filled with detailed schematic drawings and detailed full-page color paintings, Thimmesh's just-published book introduces upper elementary and middle school readers to the cutting-edge science which helps the artist to flesh out those creatures, inspiring kids who love science and love to draw an insight into how art and science can work together in the advancement of knowledge.  As the author says, "Still, somewhere out there, there is more evidence; there are more pieces of the puzzle--as yet undiscovered, as yet not fully understood.  Something unheard of today might become known tomorrow. Tomorrow's discoveries might upend what is known today." And the kid who reads this book today may be the one to make those discoveries.

Thimmesh provides a handy appendix, with thumbnail information about noted paleoartists, a bibliography, a very necessary glossary, and full index to fire the imagination of even the armchair paleoartist.

Dino Love II: How Do Dinosaurs Love Their Dogs? by Jane Yolen

DOES HE OFTEN FORGET TO TAKE IT OUTSIDE?

DOES HE JUMP ON ITS BACK FOR A PIGGY-BACK RIDE?

Little chasmosauruses, like little humans, often forget that their furry friends have needs and feelings, too, and Jane Yolen's and Mark Teague's new board book for the youngest pet owners, How Do Dinosaurs Love Their Dogs? (Blue Sky Press, 2010) somehow uses their familiar format to establish rapport with both the aggrieved pooches and with the misbehaving youngsters by modelling better behavior right away and by showing the pleasure it brings to their pets.

HE LOVES HIS DEAR DOG AND DOES EVERY CHORE.

GOOD DINOSAUR!

It's a lucky pup who has a sympathetic stygionoloch, or an empathetic child, to love and care for him, and with this lovely little book in hand, any newbie dog owner should be well on his or her way to responsible pet care. A nice addition to this dino-mite series.

Press 2 for Dinosaur: I Speak Dinosaur! by Jed Henry

DO YOU KNOW HOW TO SPEAK DINOSAUR?

I DO!

DINOSAURS NEVER SAY "THANK YOU."

THEY JUST SAY "MUCKUS RUCKUS!"

Ever since "Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one sort or another," many a bad boy has left his (claw) print in picture books. Letting your feelings rip with a bit of dinosaur speak is one way to deal with things you don't like. Sometimes even for grown-up boys (and girls), it feels good to ROAR!

But even a rough-and-tough tyrannosaurus or a king of all the wild things needs better company than others just like him. When it gets lonely, even would-be prehistoric critters need to find friends, and they finally figure out that being a T-Rex isn't exactly the way to being king of the hill. In fact...

"IT'S KIND OF LONELY SOMETIMES."

In Jed Henry's brand-new I Speak Dinosaur (Abrams, 2012) our dino boy makes that voyage back to find that if he wants other kids (and his parents) to want him around, he's got to remember to say please and thank you at all the right times. And if Henry's anger-venting dinosaur boy looks like he's having entirely too much fun roaring, it's good to reinforce the message by pairing this one with Jane Yolen's and Mark Teague's best-selling How Do Dinosaurs Play with Their Friends?

R.S.V.P.? Do Not Take Your Dragon to Dinner by Julie Gassman

IT'S A SPECIAL OCCASION. IT'S TIME FOR A TREAT.
TIME TO DRESS UP AND GO OUT TO EAT.

But despite how much you love your, er, pet, most of them are not an asset to a special dinner party at a restaurant. And of all those special family "friends," one high on the list to leave at home is your dragon!

Dragons are not dedicated to dainty dining etiquette!

A WING IN YOUR FACE! A TAIL IN A DRINK!
AND WORST OF ALL, THAT DISTINCT DRAGON STINK!

Dragons are also prone to slurp and burp at will. Their incredibly messy eating and rude noises are disgusting enough to clear the restaurant so effectively that your dinner party soon becomes a private party. But maybe there's a better way to celebrate.

If you party at home, the dragon can be helpful. He can light all the birthday candles with one breath! Then you can all exhale and enjoy the meal. Maybe your dragon will even learn some table manners--like using his napkin to wipe his mouth instead of the whole tablecloth, eating with the appropriate silverware instead of his claws. and when to say "Please" and "Thank you!"

PRACTICE THIS OFTEN AND YOUR ETIQUETTE BEGINNER
WILL SOON BE TAKING YOU OUT TO DINNER!

Julie Gassman's Do Not Take Your Dragon to Dinner (Capstone Press, 2017) slips in a small lesson in manners along with her comic description of the dangers of dining out with a dragon. The author favors jolly rhyming couplets, which scan more neatly than her protagonist eats, and her rhymes and rhythm make this one a pleasure to read, aloud or silently. Taking a page from Jane Yolen's and Mark Teague's How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? (Book & CD), (see review here), Gassman's newest puts in a plug for proper table manners by slyly pointing out the gross-out factor of bad dining habits, all the while keeping kids in stitches, gleefully chiming in on the tag line, "DO NOT TAKE YOUR DRAGON TO DINNER!" The broad humor here is helped greatly by artist Andy Elkerton's exaggerated sight gags of the downside of dining with dragons. Share it with Sally Lloyd-Wright's Being a Pig Is Nice: A Child's-Eye View of Manners for a funny take on the downside of dining without rules.

But HOW DO I... Fly! by Mark Teague

This fledgling flight denier thinks he's got it all figured out.

THE NEST IS BEST!

It's been a cinch since he hatched. He waits in the nest and Mama Robin brings him breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. What's not to like?

The only problem is the lack of scintillation in his diet. Worms for every meal and snack? Bo-RING!

!!!

Baby Robin is the avian contrarian version of the terrible twos! Mama Robin is fatigued and frazzled with her youngster's tantrums!

But--OOPS! Baby Robin's little food fit flips him right out of the nest. He flutters and flops all the way to the ground. Now what?

Mama suggests he flap his wings and fly back up to the nest. Baby suggests she carry him back up on her back. Mama suggests he try flapping his own wings. Baby is stubborn. He's oppositional. He's a classic case of FAILURE TO FLEDGE!

He summons up images of alternative modes of flight--from piggy-back to pogo stick, from hot-air balloon to vintage aircraft. from super-hero soaring to ski jumping. Mama is steamed. Enough of this silliness. Autumn is coming. She's ready to fly to Florida--soon. Baby suggests alternate means of travel--

Orange Blossom Special? Skateboard? Little Red Convertible?

Mama Robin decides it's time to stop this stonewalling and scare her litigious little fledgling straight!

Cat? (Yawn!) Dog? (Piece of cake!)

OWL?.... YIKES!!!!!!!

It's up, up, and away for this reluctant little launcher, in best-selling author-illustrator, Mark Teague's latest, Fly! (Beach Lane Books, 2019). Mama knows best in this terrific wordless story, and although simple enough for a savvy toddler who understands the concept of speech bubbles, preschoolers can "read" this one with ease, and even older kids will giggle at the graphic absurdities and the subtleties of this war of the wills.

Teague, the illustrator of Cynthia Rylant's top-selling  Poppleton series, Teague's own Mrs. LaRue series, and Jane Yolen's uber-popular How Do Dinosaurs... (see reviews here), is a modern master of illustrative humor, and as Publishers Weekly's starred review says, "Teague proves that a picture can be worth a thousand words--and almost as many laughs."