Babysitting Brain

Tonight my toddler niece told me a bedtime story: "Once time, ittle uck (duck), a end!" While it could have used a tad more plot, I loved it. Another book I loved: Tyrannosaurus Wrecks by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen.

Bardhan-Quallen's rhyming story takes place in a dinosaur preschool, where a very energetic (and quite accident-prone) Tyrannosaur destroys, crashes, spills, and wrecks all the other dinotot's creative endeavors. The cute dinosaurs (you'll love Zachariah OHora's illustrations) give us all a little lesson on helping, kindness, and forgiveness. It's also quite a lesson on dinosaurs (I had a good time figuring out the pronunciations--which, of course, the kids always seem to just know). I also like the fact that it is an early introduction to the preschool world--crafts, activities, sharing. And the rhyme; any author that can carry off a unique, clever rhyming story (with a plot!) has my enormous respect.

Happy "wrecking"!


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