Good Choices for Dinosaurs (and children too)!

books:

	• How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? Jane Yolen The Blue Sky Press, 2005 - 40 pages average customer review:based on 40 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

One of my favorites in the Dinosaur series!

This was the very first "how do dinosaurs" books that I bought my daughter, then 2 1/2 she loved the pictures and the way it rhymed...3 years later I am still reading this to her at least once a week. It is my very favorite one in the collection that we have, and one of her top favs too. Highly recommend!

"Eat Up, little dinosaur!"

I have a four-year old son and as most parents of a child that age can sympathize with, getting him to eat his food, especially the food he doesn't like, let alone the food he DOES like, can be a hard task. In fact, it just might often feel like battling a dinosaur. Jane Yolen and Mark Teague must have had this eternal battle in mind when they added this book to their series of How Do Dinosaurs do things.

How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? teaches good table manners by first listing things that shouldn't be done in the first half of the book. The second half shows what should be done to have good manners. What sets this book apart is that, instead of children, the book uses dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes to get the point across. The results are very funny and absurd pictures, with the dinosaurs acting out the bad (and later the good) table manners while their human parents and onlookers watch with disdain. The already-fun pictures are accompanied by fun rhymes, asking how indeed does a dinosaur eat his food? "How does a dinosaur eat his food? Does he burp, does he belch, or make noises quite rude?" The picture on this page shows a cryolophosaurus sitting at a breakfast table of pancakes with mouth wide in a burp, eyes closed, and arms flung out as if to proudly emphasize his belch. The look on the mom's face is exactly the look any mom would give her son who has just split the peaceful air with such an eruption. My favorite is the page that says, "Does he flip his spaghetti high into the air?" and shows an amargasaurus hurling strands of noodles into the air and onto his head with a wild look of mischievous glee as meatballs and spaghetti sauce go flying everywhere. It is meant to be very obvious that these and other poor manners are definitely not how a dinosaur should behave. The pictures are wonderfully cute, capturing both the naughtiness of the dinosaur and the parents' disapproving looks.

The last half of the book answers all the previous questions about the dinosaurs' bad manners. "No...He says `Please' and `Thank you.' He sits very still. He eats all before him with smiles and goodwill." (Anyone ever wondering how a realistically drawn dinosaur can be shown to have the many ranges of emotions displayed by these dinosaurs should take lessons from Teague.) Each previously misbehaving dinosaur is shown modeling good behavior and table manners, right down to using (human-sized) forks and spooks, complete with extended "pinky."

Also included is the name of the dinosaur hidden somewhere in each picture. This is perhaps the best thing the authors could have done with the names because it doesn't make knowing the names a necessity, but at the same time adds a bit of fun for older children in trying to find them. At this point, my son isn't at all interested in their names, but simply calls each one a dinosaur.

How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? is a comical, yet simple approach to teaching young dinosa- um, children good table manners. For our family and especially my four-year old, this book was a hit since he already fancied himself a dinosaur at times. The rhyming is wonderful, but it's definitely the pictures that steal the show.

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Eat up, little dinosaur

My 4 year old grandaughter loves this book. She carries it everywhere she goes. She says,"I like the pictures, especially when he eats pancakes. And when Gorgosaurus puts beans in his nose. That's funny"

Great Series

My little girl is 23 months. She loves all the books in this series. Her favorites are How...Eat Food, and How..Say Goodnight. She has to hear them both at least 3 times daily.

Good Choices for Dinosaurs (and children too)!

My three year old son and I really enjoyed this tale of dinosaur diners! It's a great addition to another of our favorites- How do Dinosaurs say Goodnight. The Dinosaur books are a fun, yet subtle way to teach children how silly bad behaviors really are,while modeling good behaviors.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

How does a dinosaur eat all his food?Does he burp, does he belch, or make noises quite rude?Does he pick at his cereal, throw down his cup,hoping to make someone else pick it up? Just like kids, dinosaurs have a difficult time learning to behave at the table. However, with a little help from Mom and Dad, these young dinosaurs eat all before them with smiles and goodwill. As in their previous books, Yolen and Teague capture children's rambunctious natures with playful read-aloud verse and wonderfully amusing pictures.

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