Review - That's What Dinosaurs Do

That's What Dinosaurs Do
by Jory John
illustrated by Pete Oswald
Date: 2019
Publisher: HarperCollins
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: library

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.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

From the team that brought us The Bad Seed and The Good Egg comes a story that seems like it should have a moral... but actually doesn't (unless the moral is to let down all your inhibitions and be an unmitigated jerk).

William the dinosaur has such a successful weekend roaring at people (and farm animals) that he gives himself a sore throat. The doctor tells him he can't roar for a whole week. It's tough, because William really has an urge to roar. But he manages to hold off. After a week, his throat is a little better, so the doctor says he can roar again. And he does, scaring those around him and torpedoing his own social life.

What irks me about this one is that, in the first part of the book, William proves that he can be a decent guy by not roaring. Everyone around him is much happier. But after that, he gives in to his urge to roar every single time, destroying what little goodwill others have started to give him. When someone asks him why, he just says, "That's what dinosaurs do."

Okay... Let's change that answer to, "That's what bullies do." Would the book still work? Of course not. But William is a bully. And he's hurting himself as well as everyone else around him. Why should that be excused with a flippant catchphrase?

The illustrations by Oswald are fun, and there's even a nod to The Bad Seed in one of the pictures. I like William's bedroom and seeing him hang his head out of the bus window like a dog. But even the cutest pictures in the world won't make a book with such a problematic message work. I kept waiting for William to finally learn his lesson and see the error of his ways. That epiphany never came. All we got were excuses.

Though it might have fun illustrations and an anthropomorphized dinosaur, That's What Dinosaurs Do isn't really appropriate for children... unless you want them learning that they can just give in to any little urge and then shrug it off with a careless catchphrase. (I can't see that going over very well!)

Premise: 1/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2.33 out of 5