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Edwina, The Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct is about living the life you wish you had, embracing irrationality and surrendering to your most absurd impulses. It's also about a dinosaur. Edwina is a helpful friendly neighborhood T-Rex whose popularity in her town is based on both her easygoing nature and her ready supply of homemade chocolate chip cookies. Her self-proclaimed nemesis, Reginald Von Hoobie Doobie, is an overly left-brained, empathy-impaired boy who tries to explain to everyone (using signs, protests and other adult-like methods) that Edwina is extinct. His failure to convince anyone is matched only by the appealingly childlike manner in which the townspeople reject his arguments. In one case, his pamphlets are turned into paper hats. If only the rest of us could turn negative propaganda into whimsical headwear, the world would be a better place. — Rachael Brownell
Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!
Mo Willems's pigeon is an obsession for my son. There's something about this simply-drawn fowl, with his perfectly round head, giant eyes and tiny beak, that inspires a look of awe and rapt attention, punctuated by squeals of delight and fits of giggles. This new hardcover follows the same pattern as the original pigeon book, the Caldecott Award-winning Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. In that book, the friendly bus driver assigns the reader a task, then the pigeon pleads, cajoles, litigates and pitches temper tantrums (much in the manner of a precocious three-year-old) in order to convince the children reading to do the opposite. However, unlike that first book, which gives preschoolers a license to yell "no!" without angering the grown-ups, this story comes with a mellow color palette and plenty of yawning, effectively designed to lull your child to slumber. Have your child act out those on-page yawns and watch as they turn genuine. — Jessica Bennett |
