How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night?

How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? is written and illustrated by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague. This target audience for this picture book is kindergarten and first grade boys and girls. Author Jane Yolen is an award winning writer and illustrator Mark Teague has received much recognition for his beautiful illustrations.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars ****

Summary: This picture book references ten different dinosaurs and the possible situations that could arise when trying to put them to bed!

This is a wonderful picture book to have available in the classroom for new and beginning readers for an independent read or for a read class read aloud. There are so many directions the book can go.

This book is great for a beginning reader because the language is simple and patterned. There is a lot of repetition that occurs that help give the reader a sense of predictability and familiarity. Repetition is key factor in learning to read. The rhythm and rhyme scheme of the text also helps young readers as well (Fox, 1988).

This book can also be used as a read aloud. The text and illustrations are large enough for students to see while the teacher is reading. The illustrations also incorporate a lot of humor that would be great for drawing in readers. The dinosaurs and other aspects of the illustrations accurately depict what the text says. If How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? is being read aloud, specific subjects can also be referenced. In kindergarten a lot of students start to develop and learn about routine. This book deals a lot with what proper bedtime behavior and routines consist of and can easily be taught to students. Not only do students get a visual representation of behavior, the story can also make way to a discussion of what proper bedtime behavior is and what types of things students do before they go to bed. Teachers and students can design charts of webs about appropriate behaviors and rituals.

Another angle this can be looked at is through science. Dinosaurs are a unit that most children enjoy in elementary school and books can be a great resource to learn about them. This book specific touches on ten different types of dinosaurs. Each name of the dinosaur is incorporated into the illustrations and they are also clearly represented physically through detailed pictures. Using this book to talk about dinosaurs seems to be a more appropriate unit for a first grade classroom.

As a small side note, this book does a great job showing diversity. Different mom’s and dad’s are shown throughout the illustrations representing different cultures of people. This can help a book speak to students more when they can identify with people who are similar to them and share the same qualities.

Jane Yolen

Jane Yolen has written a whole series of books based off of dinosaurs such as How Do Dinosaurs Eat Food?, How Do Dinosaurs Clean Their Room?,  and many other topics. Visit her website: http://janeyolen.com/