Today is Read Aloud Thursday hosted at Hope Is the Word Blog.  I’d like to share one of our favorite books:

When Dinosaurs Came with Everything by Elise Broach and Illustrated by David Small.

The Short:  Super cute book!  We have read this book so many times that my son can finish a lot of the sentences.  This is a great book to read aloud to him and we have a lot of fun with it.  We highly, highly recommend this book.  It was a random pick from the library shelf and I couldn’t be happier with it.  It is going on our to-buy list.  This book is a great fantasy for all children who love dinosaurs and wish they could have their very own.

The Long:  This is such a creative and wonderful book.  It is a Junior Library Guild selection and no wonder!  A boy goes on errands with his mother on Fridays.  This particular Friday though, when they are getting doughnuts they see a sign that says, “Buy a Dozen Get a Dinosaur.”  Both the mother and the son think that surely they mean a toy dinosaur.  But when they are walking out the door the woman behind the counter says, “Don’t forget your dinosaur.”    She then goes on to produce a real live triceratops.  The boy is thrilled and the mother is shocked.  The boy and his mother then go on to the doctor’s office and the barber.  At both places he is also given a dinosaur.  The mother then declines going to a restaurant, the shoe store and the movies when she sees signs that children are given dinosaurs there, too.  The mother is a little unsure as to what to do with their newly acquired dinosaurs but realizes that she can’t just leave them.  So they bring the dinosaurs home (along with a baby hadrosaur that just happens to follow them — never mind the doughnut the boy is hanging outside the car window).

Once home the boy makes some lunch for the dinosaurs and they start playing Frisbee outside.  The mother watches them and see that the dinosaurs can be useful to have around the house.  She puts them to work but the dinosaurs don’t mind because they all realize that it means that they are just part of the family.

It is such a charming book and Elise Broach writes wonderful dialogue.  The mom voice that she is able to create is fantastic and surprisingly accurate.  As I was reading this story to my son I thought several times, “That’s exactly how I sound.”  It was fun and put a smile on my face.  I love the illustrations.  I’m looking forward to reading more books by both this author and illustrator.

My son asked for me to read this book over and over and over again.  We’ll have to return it to the library in the near future, but we’ll be buying our own copy soon.

It is a wonderful picture book that is a blast to read aloud.

Where Obtained:  Library.

FTC Disclosures: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” If you click on the link and purchase the book, I will receive an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”