How Do Dinosaurs Say Merry Christmas?

by Jane Yolen, Mark Teague (Illustrator)

Overview

From decorating the tree to wrapping presents, little dinosaurs love to celebrate Christmas-and everything about it. With ornaments on the branches and carolers singing at the door, the spirit of Christmas is finally here and filling the hearts of families everywhere. But when the stockings are hung on the chimney, and the cookies are left out for Santa, how can little dinosaurs go to sleep? It's so exciting! How can they possibly calm down and behave?

Children will laugh out loud as dinosaurs secretly lick candy canes, take sneaky peeks at gifts, and disrupt the traditional family feast.

With holiday surprises around every corner, the award-winning team of Jane Yolen and Mark Teague create an engaging, fun gift sure to be read again and again, year after year. How do dinosaurs say Merry Christmas? The same way they say Happy Chanukah: With an abundance of love, joy, memory, and gratitude.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781338330434
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	09/03/2019
Series:	How Do Dinosaurs...? Series
Pages:	34
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	3 Months to 3 Years

About the Author

Jane Yolen is the beloved author of more than three hundred books for children and adults, including award-winning picture books, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Her How Do Dinosaurs... books have sold millions of copies and are international bestsellers. She regularly travels the globe speaking and teaching. Jane lives in Western Massachusetts and St. Andrews, Scotland. You can visit her at janeyolen.com.

Mark Teague is the award-winning children's book author and illustrator of his own bestselling Dear Mrs. LaRue series, as well as The Sky Is Falling, The Three Little Pigs and the Somewhat Bad Wolf, The Tree House That Jack Built by Bonnie Verburg, and many other humorous picture books. In addition to his prized art for the How Do Dinosaurs... series, his illustrated novel, The Doom Machine, received excellent reviews. Mark lives in the Hudson River Valley with his wife and their two daughters.

Editorial Reviews

Continuing to follow the successful blueprint of the long-running How Do Dinosaurs books, Yolen and Teague pose the possibility of dinosaurs wreaking merry havoc on Christmas Eve. Uproarious hypotheticals—do dinosaurs rip open presents, “shake up the tree,” or eat all the cookies left out for Santa?—give way to portraits of the dinos’ angelic behavior in the second half. Yolen’s characteristically wry verse is flawless in its rhyme and rhythm, and as in the earlier outings, the art’s buttoned-up 1950s fashions and furnishings provide a comical visual contrast to the outlandish, brightly colored dinosaurs. Simultaneously available: How Do Dinosaurs Say Happy Chanukah? Up to age 4. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for
HOW DO DINOSAURS SAY GOOD NIGHT?
"A delight from start to finish; better buy more than one."--BOOKLIST
An ALA Notable Book
A SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL Best Book of the Year
A BOOKLIST Editor's Choice
A NEW YORK TIMES, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, and BOOKSENSE bestseller.

HOW DO DINOSAURS GET WELL SOON?
* "An excellent choice for story hours."--BOOKLIST, starred review
* "The perfect prescription for the crankily bedridden."--KIRKUS REVIEWS, starred review
A Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year
A Parent's Choice Award winner

HOW DO DINOSAURS SAY I LOVE YOU?
"Kids should relate to the dinosaurs' mood swings and take heart in the notion that love conquers all."--PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A Parent's Choice Award winner

From the Publisher

Yolen and Teague's "How Do Dinosaurs..." series has reached classic children's picture book status—deservedly. The formula of having a variety of dinosaur species indulge in very human behavior combines appealing rhyming text with illustrations that represent a scientifically accurate picture of how the particular species looked, in a multicultural 21st century setting, complete with humans. Furthermore, while the books always open with the kind of somewhat naughty behavior typical of young children, they always end with the dinosaurs being good—in this case, instead of shaking the tree as the first gigantoraptor is shown doing, the good little specimen of the same species sweetly kisses his grandparents good night, curling his three wickedly long claws so they won't harm anyone. And in keeping with the commitment to celebrate diversity, if the family does not celebrate Christmas, they can enjoy the companion holiday book released at the same time: How Do Dinosaurs Celebrate Hanukah? Reviewer: Mary Hynes-Berry

Children's Literature - Mary Hynes-Berry

PreS-Gr 2—Yolen and Teague add to their delightful dinosaur canon with this funny, gentle reminder of proper behavior for the most eagerly anticipated of holidays. As in previous titles, the dinosaurs have human parents and each one can be identified by the inclusion of its name in the illustrations. The 10 featured behemoths also adorn the endpapers. Enhancing the hilarity are the cats and dogs in the role of family pets bearing witness to the dinosaurs' antics-such as sneaking out of bed to peek, ripping open presents, deconstructing the tree, pre-licking candy canes, dumping out stockings, and eating Santa's cookies. Don't pass up this exuberant guide to achieving yuletide harmony.—Linda Israelson, Los Angeles Public Library

School Library Journal

Yolen and Teague extend their dinosaur franchise with this rollicking romp of rampaging dinosaurs up to their terrible tricks throughout the Christmas season. Using the familiar structure of naughty-then-nice behavior, the dinosaur crew rips open presents, knocks over decorated trees and dumps out filled stockings. When they get hungry, they eat all the Christmas cookies and lick all the candy canes. But in the calmer, concluding half, the well-behaved dinosaurs sing carols politely, help with the dishes and interact nicely with the grandparents. They even get to sleep in time for Santa's arrival. Young readers will delight in the initial wild antics, with the falling Christmas trees, flying ornaments and the brilliantly colored dinosaurs cavorting around the decorated living rooms in wild abandonment. The large trim size and double-page illustrations offer plenty of room to show off the dinosaurs in motion. Each dinosaur is identified within the illustrations as well as in humorous spot illustrations on the endpapers. What child wouldn't love to grab all the presents and lick all the candy canes one by one? Those naughty dinosaurs have the most fun, and their fans will be waiting to see what they get up to next. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews