That's What Dinosaurs Do

by Jory John, Pete Oswald (Illustrator)

Overview

From The Bad Seed and The Good Egg creators, Jory John and Pete Oswald, comes a story about a dinosaur who loves to ROAR.

William the dinosaur likes to roar.

At the park?“ROAR.”

At the bus stop?“ROAR!”

At the farm? You bet. ROARRR!

William never lets the chance to roar pass him by, even if others find it rather bothersome.

That's until William gets a sore throat and the doctor warns him not to roar for a WHOLE week. But can this overexcited, boisterous, giant lizard not do what dinosaurs are meant to do?!

In his humorous and insightful style, Jory John creates an epic story about unapologetically and happily being yourself, no matter the cost. Another side-splitting combination of John’s brilliant text and Pete Oswald’s expressive and lively illustrations, That’s What Dinosaurs Do is a read-aloud that young readers will roar for again and again.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062343192
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/21/2019
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	362,366
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jory John is a New York Times bestselling author and two-time E. B. White Read Aloud Honor recipient. Jory’s work includes the award-winning Goodnight Already! series; the bestselling Terrible Two series; the popular picture books The Bad Seed, Penguin Problems, and Quit Calling Me a Monster!; and the national bestseller All My Friends Are Dead, among other books. He lives in Oregon. You can visit him online at www.joryjohn.com.

Pete Oswald is an LA-based artist, kid lit author/illustrator, and production designer. Pete is the illustrator of the Food Group series by Jory John and the Cranky series by Phuc Tran as well as many other picture books. When Pete is not working on books, he is helping to uplift many of the most successful animated franchises as a character designer, concept artist, and production designer. Pete lives in Los Angeles, California, with his wife and two sons.

Editorial Reviews

03/04/2019

Scaring people by roaring loudly at them is bad, right? Right. But William the T. rex does it anyway. In vignettes and panels that feature a faded, beachy vibe, Oswald portrays the fun William has scaring others. At a bus stop, riders are waiting politely in front of a bush when William bursts forth: “ROAR!” The bus riders jump, shocked, but the dino is clearly delighted. After a weekend of frightening folks renders William hoarse, the doctor orders no roaring. (Oswald pictures the doc peering down William’s toothy maw like Doctor De Soto; there’s a bicycle, a fishing rod, and more back there.) As William’s throat heals, a bandage around his snout, people smile and wave. No matter. When his convalescence is over, William goes right back to roaring, for “That’s what dinosaurs do!” This divertissement by the creators of The Bad Seed gleefully flouts picture book convention. Not only does William show no remorse; his misbehavior, John seems to argue, is part of his very nature. Since the protagonist’s cheerful id triumphs over his civilized superego, the story won’t do for readalouds where moral rectitude is required. But if laughter is wanted, William’s your dinosaur. Ages 4–8. Author’s and illustrator’s agent: Kirsten Hall, Catbird Productions. (May)

Publishers Weekly

...a sure storytime favorite.” — Booklist

“A recommended read-aloud.” — School Library Journal

From the Publisher

...a sure storytime favorite.

Booklist

...a sure storytime favorite.

Booklist

05/01/2019

PreS-Gr 2–William roars at everyone in town, because that's what dinosaurs do. He cheerfully scares a group at the bus stop, kids at the playground, and farm animals. All that roaring leads to a sore throat and instructions from his doctor: "no more roaring for a week." William is sad but his community is grateful for the peace. A week later, William is back to his old self, happily roaring at everyone he meets. His sore throat is cured, but he didn't gain any self-awareness during his quiet time. The fed-up townspeople demand an apology, but William isn't sorry. "That's what dinosaurs do." Oswald's perfectly whimsical illustrations match John's crisp yet thoughtful pacing and send a disruptive message about the importance of self-expression juxtaposed against the needs of the community. This story can be a terrific springboard for students to talk about the impact of their actions in school or at home. But William lacks the self-reflective characteristics of the author's similarly impulsive Bad Seed character, and his story could be misconstrued as merely a celebration of individual freedom. Match this title with the more didactic Ellen Javernick's What if Everybody Did That for a two-tiered book club on social justice. Or go another way and read along with Mo Willems's extremely social Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct and Martin Waddell's The Super Hungry Dinosaur who learns that his antisocial urges can be sidelined with a good meal. VERDICT A recommended read-aloud wherever dinosaurs are popular.—Lisa Lehmuller, Paul Cuffee Maritime Charter School, Providence

School Library Journal

2019-02-13

When a T. Rex gets a sore throat and cannot roar for one whole week, his self-control is tested.

William loves to roar. But not just for the sake of making loud noise. He loves hiding, sneaking, and scaring, along with roaring. He can't help it. As the titular refrain explains: "That's what dinosaurs do." Oswald's blue-dappled, toothy dino peers out from behind bushes, frightening folks in literally hair-raising fashion (even the sheep that he scares have their wool standing on end). But when the doctor tells William he must rest his voice in order to cure his sore throat, he doesn't know how to act. He wraps a big roll of gauze around his snout and slumps through town, dejected. It's not very much fun for William, but the townspeople are ecstatic. No more roaring! No more scaring! But will William be able to keep it up? Though moments of growth are present (William does recognize that he shouldn't scare others), readers may be taken aback by the unabashedly unapologetic prehistoric creature's resistance to rehabilitation. Instead of reaching for a clever way to impart wisdom, John leans heavily on the excuse, "That's what dinosaurs do." William is a bully, with no hope of reformation.

It's got witty illustrations, but it paints a pretty bleak picture for society. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews