Drumheller Dinosaur Dance

by Robert Heidbreder, Bill Slavin (Illustrator), Esperanca Melo (Illustrator)

Overview

By daylight, the Drumheller dinosaurs rest their ancient bones. But when the moon rises, so do these slumbering skeletons — ready to tango, fandango, shimmy and shake! This exuberant read-aloud imagines what the dinosaur skeletons of world-famous Drumheller, Alberta, get up to when everyone's asleep. Kids will want to thumpity-thump along with these dynamic dinos as they dance across the dark, dusty Badlands.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781553379829
Publisher:	Kids Can Press, Limited
Publication date:	08/28/2006
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.25(d)
Lexile:	620L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Robert Heidbreder is an award-winning children's poet and author. His many books include I Wished for a Unicorn, Eenie Meenie Manitoba and Drumheller Dinosaur Dance. Robert spent thirty years as a primary school teacher and, in 2002, won the Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Bill Slavin is an award-winning children's book illustrator with over 50 books to his credit. His works include Stanley's Party and The Bear on the Bed He lives in Millbrook, Ontario.

Esperança Melo is an artist and illustrator. She lives in Millbrook, Ontario.

Editorial Reviews

Fans of boisterous bedtimes will get a high kick out of this fun, fantastical take on Drumheller's dinosaurs.—Quill & Quire

While there are many great picture books about dinosaurs, this one tells a story that young fans will enjoy hearing over and over.—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

"Drumheller, Alberta, Canada, is one of the best places on Earth to find dinosaur bones," explains the book's endnote. Heidbreder (I Wished for a Unicorn), Slavin (Stanley's Party) and Melo imagine it's also the site of a nightly dinosaur fandango macabre. When the sun sets, the skeletal dinos "stir their bones from secret cracks/ and assemble themselves-/ fronts, sides and backs." With the midnight blue sky and red sandstone hoodoos providing backdrops, the prehistoric pals cavort with abandon to a bone-shaking beat: "Boomity-Boom/ Rattely-Clack/ Thumpity- Thump/ Whickety-Whack." Grown-ups think the racket is "a terrible storm!" but young dinosaur fanatics know better, and converge on the scene to bop along in their pajamas until daybreak. Slavin and Melo have a field day, so to speak, making the impressively detailed dinosaur frames break dance and boogie (the typography gets into the act as well, rocking and rolling through the spreads). The crackled texture of the acrylics evokes the weirdly eroded landscape, while dramatic perspectives play up the dancers' uninhibited primeval merriment. The book may well send both youngsters and grown-ups to the Internet and library shelves to find out more about the paleontological riches of Drumheller. Ages 3-6. (Sept.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

A sleeping boy, clearly obsessed by dinosaurs, begins to dream about them. They are the dinosaurs of Drumheller, Alberta, Canada. In this dream the dinosaur skeletons pull themselves together, crawl across the Badlands to roar, make music and dance. Budding paleontologists will delight in identifying the skeletons and will see themselves dancing with the dinos. They will delight in the dinosaur shadows the little boy creates on his way to bed. The illustrations are large and clear for a storytime reading but are also perfect for bedtime. The rhythm and rhyme are strong. After seeing some of the Drumheller dinosaurs in this book, curious children may want to learn more about the real things. A delightful romp. 2004, Kids Can Press, Ages 3 to 7.
—Sharon Salluzzo

Children's Literature

Fans of boisterous bedtimes will get a high kick out of this fun, fantastical take on Drumheller’s dinosaurs.

Quill & Quire