DINOTHESAURUS by Doug Florian

Florian, Douglas. 2009. DINOTHESAURUS. Ill by Douglas Florian. New York: Beach Lane Books. ISBN 978-1416979784.

Dinothesaurus written and illustrated by Doug Florian is a delightful journey through prehistoric time with 20 informative and humorous poems about dinosaurs.  The poetry of Florian is perfectly woven together with his amazing artwork, which just like the poems reveals itself to the audience in layers.  Each of the poems focuses on a specific type of dinosaur and share its story through interesting facts set to a rhythm and rhyme scheme proving to be delightful to the reader and helps connect the audience to the pieces.  Each featured dinosaur is accompanies by a pronunciation and the rhyming patterns also aid in the correct pronunciations of each creature.  The poems are brief enough to hold a young reader’s attention but still packed with standard poetic conventions such as alliteration (We swallow sea reptiles and gobble great fish), the melodic anaphora of “Deinonychus”, or the simile of  “Seismosaurus” (…as big as a lake…).  No matter the readers current knowledge of dinosaurs they are sure to walk away with a new fun fact about these interesting creatures.

As if the poetry of this piece wasn’t enough, the illustrations prove to be just as much of a draw as the words.  From cover to cover, this book is delightfully illustrated using mixed media to add visual interest to each page and connect with the pieces.  The artwork conveys to the reader what the creature may have looked like, but, just like the poems, each page has some hidden visual “nuggets” imbedded in the artwork.  This element of discovering on each page is almost like the readers are on their own archeological dig as they explore the book.

“Brachiosaurus” uses a series of relatable concrete images to develop a deeper understanding in the reader about the size and the habitat of the creature.  With such rich imagery the reader is left with a clear and relatable picture of the Brachiosaurus.  The author plays with words throughout the book to add visual interest and meaning to each piece.  By spacing out "s l o w" this give the reader the rhythm of the piece.  This fun piece will both entertain and educate the audience.

Brachiosaurus
BRAK-ee-oh-SAW-rus (arm lizard)

Longer than a tennis court.
Bigger than a barge.
I never knew a lizard
Could ever be so large.
It moved about within a heard
That roamed across a plain.
With stretched-out neck, high as a bird,
It looked much like a crane.
On massive legs with knobby knees,
It traveled very  s  l  o  w
And ate all day from tops of trees –
Grow, baby, grow!

One of the most exciting aspects of these pieces might be the science and poetry connection.  This book could serve as a great introduction to a unit on dinosaurs and fossils.  Students could follow-up by using a variety of mix media art supplies to construct their own dinosaurs.  They could then write an original piece of poetry for their dinosaur creation.  These could be assembles into a class book of poetry.