Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Dinosaur Christmas
Illustrator: Howard McWilliam
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Scholastic, 2013 ISBN: 978-0545433600
One night a little girl called Jilly writes on a postcard which she sends to Santa Claus. Jilly wants to know who pulled Santa’s sleigh before he had reindeer to help him. At the North Pole Santa tells us that he is very fond of his reindeer and they certainly are “great at their jobs,” but he can’t help looking back on “the good old days” with nostalgia.
Back then dinosaurs pulled Santa’s sleigh. Santa started by using Triceratops to pull his sleigh. Though they were “steady and ready” they were rather slow. The Parasaurolophus dinosaurs made too much of a racket, and when the sleigh was hooked up to the Pterosaurs poor Santa in his sleigh went far too high in the sky. The Velociraptors fought too much, and using a Gigantosuarus (a predator) was a “gigantic-o mistake-o!” Though all these dinosaur experiments did not work out too well, there were some dinosaurs who did manage to get the job done.
Children who love Christmas and dinosaurs and going to love this funny and charming picture book. They might even be inspired to imagine what their lives would be like if dinosaurs were still around.
