The Family Bookshelf
By Bob Walch

"Dinosaur vs. Bedtime"
(Hyperion) by Bob Shea

The Audience: If your little dinosaur doesn't like hopping into bed each night, here's the perfect picture book to perhaps prepare him or her for sleep and take some of the angst out of the process. (40 pages)

The Content: Little Dinosaur loves to ROAR! When he sees a pile of leaves he jumps in with a mighty ROAR.  The same thing happens when he plays on the big kids' slide. He climbs to the top, lets out a big ROAR, and down he slides.

Put a big bowl of spaghetti in front of little Dinosaur and he'll attack it with, of course, a voracious ROAR!  Even when it is time for a bath, the little fella hops in the tub with a mighty ROAR. 

With his special sound effects, little Dinosaur can tackle anything and emerge the victor. Anything, that is, but bed! He can ROAR as much as he'd like, but sleep wins this encounter and guess who slips off into slumberland?

The Message: You can roar as much as you want, but you'll still have to go to bed.

Before retiring, Bob Walch taught English in Santa Barbara and Carmel for 39 years. His reviews of children's literature appear in Central Coast newspapers and on line at the Reading Tub, Roundtable Reviews, My Shelf and Parent Click.