WHAT IF WE HAD A DINOSAUR?

Two children imagine the fun they’d have with a triceratops pet in Flaugher’s picture book.

From the first page of this picture book, a large, green, red-eyed triceratops dominates Luna’s brightly painted illustrations. The creature is accompanied by two fair-skinned children, one with short blond hair and the other with short brown hair. They imagine keeping the triceratops in an enclosure under their treehouse, riding it to school, and playing with their pet in the park. They would take it for walks, polish its horns, and feed it plenty of leafy greens. But imagine if “our mother found out. What would she say?” In addition to the main text, interactive pages offer facts about the triceratops, an opportunity to name a fantastically illustrated invented dinosaur, and dinosaur drawing activities. Flaugher uses a simple sentence fragment on each page beginning with the word and, each addressing the initial question of what would happen if the children had a dinosaur; most of the vocabulary is simple enough for early-emergent readers, encouraging independent reading. The activity pages have more challenging words, which may make these elements better for an adult helper to introduce. The activities themselves are perfect for preschool and early-elementary students, especially those who can never get enough dinosaurs.

A simple, friendly dinosaur book for early readers.