The Girl and the Dinosaur, a soft, dreamy good-night book

The moon sucks you in. Then, when you’re looking at the moon you pay attention to the red-haired girl who is sitting on the back of a dinosaur. It’s then when notice the tagline for The Girl and the Dinosaur, believe in the impossible. The only thing that’s missing from the book’s cover is a message from Steven Spielberg saying that he’ll be turning it into a major motion picture.

For now, The Girl and the Dinosaur is an illustrated book that alternates between the power of imaginative play and a good-night book that sometimes uses rhyme play.  Marianne is an eight year-old girl who lives by the ocean. She’s playing on the beach by herself digging for a dinosaur. The town folk watching her think that she needs to find some friends, but she’s content digging for bones. She goes to bed that night thinking of her dino-sized friend that’s buried on the beach when all of sudden a large, green neck taps on her window.

It’s magic and the dinosaur is there to play. The two go for a trip through the forest to see fairies, unicorns, giants and islands that are up in the sky. On the cloud Marianne sees all sorts of children playing around with dinosaurs of all sizes. Some are smaller and pokier than hers, some have longer necks, but they’re all having fun.

However, slumber waits for no one and she must get home to her bed so that she can sleep. The next morning he fishermen see lots of kids on the beach, all with shovels or sticks looking for things under the sand.

The Girl and the Dinosaur is a great example of the perfect style of art that’s teamed up with correct text. Hughes’ words set the story up, but it’s the dreamy, soft colors and soft edges that make the story complete. The dinosaur’s smile is warm, pleasant and such that you want it to be real. Marianne is having fun playing around with the dinosaur that night and self aware enough to realize when it’s time to go to bed.

The round trip ticket provides fantasy elements to make kids get their creative thoughts moving and lets them know when it’s time to call it a day. The Girl and the Dinosaur is a great good-night book for those kids who are 4-8. It’s short enough to re-read more than once, but also has enough soft details to discuss with your child if you only want to read it once. The text is such that six year-olds will be able to read most of it and those eight year old will be able to read all of it while they get lost in the pictures.

There are affiliate links in this post because, dinosaurs.