PICTURE DAY AT DINO PLAY

A prehistoric play group provides an ideal social environment for reptilian tots.

Brightly pastel mini-dinosaurs arrive at bespectacled pterodactyl Miss Beak’s place—introduced in Norman’s First Day at Dino Daycare (2021)—on class photo day. Freda the triceratops is wearing her favorite hat atop her vermillion ruff. When they play outside (in a witty Mesozoic landscape accessorized with toys and cobblestone structures), Freda sits out: She doesn’t want to dirty the precious hat. But eventually she can’t resist the fun and begins jumping, digging, and riding scooters with her dino classmates. As she glides down the slide, her hat flies off, but she doesn’t notice until Norman asks about it at lunchtime. Suddenly she’s frantic, rushing around in search of the beloved straw hat. A teary Freda reveals that her grandmother gave her the hat. Miss Beak is understanding: “It can be upsetting when we lose things…especially the things we love.” The friends all agree to help look, and together they search everywhere. Then Norman notices a bird in a tree, sitting on a comfy nest—Freda’s upturned hat. Seeing the delicate eggs inside, Freda generously gives the hat to the bird, and Miss Beak creatively alters the afternoon’s art activity to hat-making: a clever success and a lovely conclusion to this quiet yet satisfying tale.

A sweet sherbet-tinted tale of accepting and adapting.