I Met A Dinosaur - Hardcover

Since publishing his first book, Pleasant Fieldmouse, Jan Wahl has written more than 100 books for children, including Christmas Present and the acclaimed I Met a Dinosaur. His picture books have won a number of awards, including the Youth Critics Prize at the Bologna Children's Book Fair.

K-Gr 2—Some things are timeless—take a child's fascination with dinosaurs. Since Waterhouse Hawkins first introduced the world to dinosaurs through his lifelike models, many of us have fantasized about what it would be like to be in the presence of prehistoric creatures. In this reissue of I Met A Dinosaur, a young girl's visit to see the dinosaur skeletons at the Natural History Museum has a powerful effect on her imagination. Soon, she is seeing benevolent dinosaurs everywhere in her life—a Stegosaurus wrapped around a gas station, an Iguanadon standing far out in a rainy lake, and a Tyrannosaurus Rex waving to her from behind a tree. Sheban's textured illustrations have a beautiful interplay between light and shadow that suggest an altered world where impossible events could occur. Some of the drawings even provide visual links between everyday objects (the shape of a gas station sign) and the details of a dinosaur (the plates on a Stegosaurus) that show how a child's imagination is stimulated. The final illustration has a wonderful visual symmetry plus a subtle reference to Vermeer's luminous scenes of domestic Dutch life. The simple rhyming text pairs well with the images and highlights the girl's ability to see dinosaurs, even though her parents continue to chide her gently about her overactive imagination. The final page provides some facts about each of the dinosaurs. VERDICT A great read-aloud for parents or teachers that shows the power of a child's imagination and the enduring appeal of dinosaurs.—Sally James, South Hillsborough Elementary School, Hillsborough, CA