Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews

Edwina: The Dinosaur who didn’t know she was extinct

Edwina: The Dinosaur who didn’t know she was extinct

Mo Willems
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Hyperion, 2006   ISBN: 978-0786837489

Edwina was a dinosaur who was much loved by the people in her town. This was not surprisingly really because she was a kind, generous and friendly creature. There was one person who did not like her however, a know-it-all boy who was called Reginald Von Hoobie-Doobie. Reginald decided that he would do a project at school about how dinosaurs became extinct. No one listened to Reginald and they did not read his flyers, or notice his signs, or comment on his other protestations that dinosaurs are extinct.

Poor Reginald was beside himself with frustration. Why wouldn’t anyone listen to him? Then Reginald finally got what he wanted – an audience. Edwina herself was willing to listen to what he had to say. How would she react when she found out that she was extinct?

In this delightful picture book a little boy discovers that sometimes there are more important things in this world than facts and figures. He discovers that there is nothing wrong with accepting something odd when that something is wonderful and needed by all. Sometimes, you can indeed have too much information and it is better just to take a thing on trust – and to enjoy it for what it is.

The delightfully funny and expressive illustrations which fill the pages are perfectly suited to this quirky and thought-provoking little story.