12 Days of Christmas Picture Books - How Do Dinosaurs Say Merry Christmas? by Jane Yolen

**Due to technical difficulties - this didn't publish last night. Which is OK, it just means you'll get 2 posts from us in 24 hours!**

It's Day 8 of our 12 Days of Christmas Picture Books series. Wow, where does the time go? Still so many awesome Christmas picture books we'd love to share. . . guess we'll get a jump on the project for next year! And remember, we'd love to hear what your favorite holiday reads are, whether they are for Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa. You can leave a comment here, track me down on Facebook or Twitter, or shoot me an email with your suggestions!

Today's pick is one of Sprout's new favorites: Jane Yolen's How Do Dinosaurs Say Merry Christmas?. Yolen has a whole series of these How Do Dinosaurs books, and we've of course brought several home from the library because Sprout is nuts for them. Each one is not only fun and spirited, but teaches us a few more dinosaur names. Sprout has fun poring over the end papers and noting which dinosaurs appear where in the pictures, done by illustrator Mark Teague (look for the name of each dinosaur cleverly woven into the spread on which its picture appears). And as with each of the books, there's a little bit of a lesson embedded, though it's done with such wit and charm that it'll sneak right up on the kiddos.

It's really hard to separate the pictures and the text in these titles, and Merry Christmas is no exception. Much of the humor comes from the antics of the dinosaurs, and the way their outsized shenangans are depicted in the setting of a modern-day home. In this title, there's a lot of tearing up presents, shaking Christmas trees, and the like, all of which are so ridiculously over-the-top that they make Sprout laugh like crazy. And I love that Teague includes a multicultural cast of characters in all of these titles - proof again that it doesn't have to be a book about racial issues or set in a foreign land to show a little diversity! Thank you Jane Yolen and Mark Teague for that kind of sensitivity and thought.

On Christmas morning it may feel like a gigantoraptor has been frolicking through your living room, but take heart - if even a dinosaur can learn to use manners and express gratitude, so can your little sprout!

How Do Dinosaurs Say Merry Christmas? by Jane Yolen, published by Blue Sky Press
All ages
Source: Library
Sample: "On Christmas Eve, does a dinosaur sleep? Does he go up to bed without making a peep? / Or does he sneak out, just to check what's to see? / Does he rip open presents set under the tree?"
Recommended

30 Days of Picture Books - Bear Says Thanks by Karma Wilson

Happy Thanksgiving! It's Day 22 of Picture Book Month and we have much to be thankful for around here: family, good friends, a warm home, plenty to eat, and of course loads of books. As we have been the last couple of years, we are extra thankful for the process of adoption, which allowed us to become parents, and to the country of Ethiopia, where our hearts were made full. We hope you are having a wonderful day celebrating with those you love most.

This is the first year that Sprout is really aware of the holiday. He's been doing turkey crafts at preschool (a pinecone turkey!) and talking about things he's thankful for. We've also been talking a lot at home about gratitude, about how fortunate we are to have so much in our lives. Naturally that entails reading books about Thanksgiving. I've shared some already, from multicultural titles to a nonfiction choice, and today's pick features one of our favorite picture book characters.

We first met Karma Wilson's Bear in the now-classic Bear Snores On, and since then we've read a number of Bear's other adventures. Sprout adores Bear, and with each book he studies Jane Chapman's illustrations carefully. In his latest outing, Bear Says Thanks, Bear and his forest friends gather in his cozy cave for a lovely feast. Everyone brings something, from Mouse's huckleberry pie to Badger's catch of the day. But Bear is upset because his own cupboard is empty and he has nothing to add to the dinner spread. Fortunately, his dear friends reassure them that Bear has plenty to share: his wonderful stories! And so the group gathers together to share a meal and some cameraderie.

You can't go wrong with any of these excellent Bear titles. Karma Wilson's stories touch on the kinds of issues that are important to preschoolers, and her writing really lends itself to read-aloud, whether at home or in the classroom. I love that each title gives us more to talk about -- in this case, the importance of sharing what we have with others who do not, as well as the fact that we all have different gifts to contribute. And the illustrations by Jane Chapman are just delightful, with color palettes and cozy details that match the tone of each tale to a T. In one of the last spreads, the friends are gathered around Bear, eating and laughing and having a very enjoyable time; Chapman's homey translation of the scene will make young readers want to join right in!

Stories unite us and help us understand ourselves and our world in ways we could never anticipate. We hope you, dear readers, are as thankful for the gifts of talented authors and illustrators as we are. In the spirit of Bear and his friends, we all say "Thanks!"

Bear Says Thanks by Karma Wilson, published by Simon & Schuster