When Dinosaurs Came with Everything

by Elise Broach, David Small (Illustrator)

Overview

From beloved duo Elise Broach and David Small comes an adorable picture book about a little boy who gets a free dino with purchase!

Free gift with purchase: Dinosaurs!
Wait—free what?!

Just when a little boy thinks he’s going to die of boredom from running errands with his mom, the most remarkable, the most stupendous thing happens. He discovers that on this day, and this day only, stores everywhere are giving away a very special treat with any purchase. No, not the usual lollipop or sticker. Something bigger. Much, MUCH bigger. It’s a dream come true, except...what exactly do you do with these Jurassic treats? And how do you convince Mom to let you keep them?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780689869228
Publisher:	Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	09/25/2007
Series:	Junior Library Guild Selection
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.50(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	520L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Elise Broach lives with her family in rural Connecticut, where she writes books for children and teens, including When Dinosaurs Came With Everything, Shakespeare’s Secret, and Wet Dog!, and serves in town government. Visit Elise at EliseBroach.com.

David Small is the Caldecott Award–winning illustrator of So You Want to Be President? by Judith St. George. He also received Caldecott Honors for The Gardener by Sarah Stewart and One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo. He’s illustrated dozens of other award-winning books, including That Book Woman by Heather Henson and The Underneath by Kathi Appelt, and lives in Michigan with his wife, Sarah Stewart.

Editorial Reviews

A loony idea is expressed perfectly in Small's larger-than-life illustrations.
—The New York Times

Julie Just

Broach (Shakespeare's Secret) and Caldecott Medalist Small's (So You Want to Be President?) deadpan delivery of a delectably over-the-top premise makes this tall-format picture book a virtually guaranteed crowd-pleaser. At the bakery with his mother, the freckle-faced narrator spies an odd sign above the doughnut case: "Buy a Dozen Get a Dinosaur." They make the purchase, expecting a toy, but the bakery lady trots out a triceratops. When the boy's flummoxed mother cries, "How are we supposed to get that home?" the proprietor responds with a sardonic smile, "Oh, don't worry, he'll follow you. They always do." After his doctor's appointment, the boy asks for a sticker, but the nurse announces that there are no stickers today, "just dinosaurs," and the receptionist presents him with a stegosaurus. His mother prudently refuses to stop at the shoe store, movie theater and diner, but the boy picks up a pterosaur at the barber shop and uses a doughnut to lure home a hadrosaur ("It wasn't my fault" he disingenuously tells readers). Beleaguered by prehistoric pets, Mom comes up with a brilliant solution. Small fuels his watercolor-and-ink art with just the right dose of hyperbole, comically relaying the boy's elation and the mother's distress at the expanding menagerie. This well-balanced romp packs an outsize helping of humor. Ages 3-7. (Sept.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Publishers Weekly

PreS-Gr 1
In a playful take on the stickers and lollipops that bored kids sweep up at businesses as parents do errands, Broach imagines what would happen if a dinosaur were the giveaway of the day. A boy's increasing delight at the freebies he collects from the bakery, the doctor, and barber contrast with his mother's increasing panic and dismay as the lumbering beasts start to accumulate. When they acquire the fourth behemoth, Mom decides that the errands are done and whisks everyone home. Once there, she finds some unique ways to put the stegosaurus, triceratops, hadrosaur, and pterosaur to good use doing household chores. Small's sketchy, tongue-in-cheek watercolor-and-ink artwork perfectly captures the boy's exuberance, the dinosaurs' mass, and the hubbub that a city full of these reptiles would create. Dinosaur lovers will enjoy seeing their favorite creatures pictured and named, though the book's appeal won't just be for them. Both listeners and independent readers will appreciate the humor in the text, and the book will spark imaginations and discussions on what else might make great giveaways.
—Marge Loch-WoutersCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

What if one day every merchant in town offered up, and indeed, insisted that shoppers take home a live dinosaur (free) with every purchase? That's what happens to a boy and his mother in this sweet, absurd story that unfolds very much like a dream-or a nightmare, depending on the reader's perspective on having a large dinosaur as a pet. In Small's comical, wonderfully expressive watercolor-and-ink drawings, it's easy to identify the mother's reaction to the bonus triceratops (free with a dozen doughnuts); stegosaurus (from the doctor instead of stickers); and pterosaur (from the barber instead of the usual balloon): unmitigated horror, inversely proportionate to her son's delight. The hulking beasts are irresistibly endearing, though, as they wait patiently, doglike, for their new owners outside all the town establishments and ultimately, once at home in the family's backyard, prove their worth as household laborers, cleaning gutters and rescuing far-flung Frisbees. In the end, the boy's friends bring their own newly acquired dinos over to his house for a poolside party-and he knows Mom has truly come around when she calls the baker for more doughnuts. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews