How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food?

How Do Dinosaurs...?

by Jane Yolen, Mark Teague (Illustrator)

Jane Yolen runs through the gamut of mealtime bad behaviour, satisfyingly concluding with impeccably behaved dinosaur guests.

Genres: Picture Books, Dinosaurs, Childrens, Food, Storytime, Animals, Fiction

32 pages, Unknown Binding

First published September 1, 2005

About the author

Jane Yolen is a novelist, poet, fantasist, journalist, songwriter, storyteller, folklorist, and children’s book author who has written more than three hundred books. Her accolades include the Caldecott Medal, two Nebula Awards, the World Fantasy Award, three Mythopoeic Awards, the Kerlan Award, two Christopher Awards, and six honorary doctorate degrees from colleges and universities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Born and raised in New York City, the mother of three and the grandmother of six, Yolen lives in Massachusetts and St. Andrews, Scotland.

Reviews

[Josh Caporale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is definitely a clever way to teach its target audience about proper table manners. I like the use of the dinosaurs, which not only attract the children, but take the place of the children in these particular situations. I also like the examples that are given when it comes to beginning with how NOT to eat your food and then give the proper examples of how manners should be practiced. I think this is a good teaching tool for the 3-7 age range and I think kids will get a kick out of this!

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basic Plot: While we may assume dinosaurs are messy, picky, impolite eaters, in reality they are very polite and open to trying new things. Really.

This is a very quick rhymer to read. The art is really good, especially in the pictures where the dinos are misbehaving. The looks on the parents' faces are pretty well priceless. I also like how the names of the specific dino types are embedded within the pictures. It's subtle and works well for parents like me, who don't necessarily know all the names but want to seem smart or encourage our little paleontologists. This isn't really a book about dinosaurs, though, it's really about good table manners. The use of the dinos as a metaphor for the monsters that little kids can sometimes be works, though, with humorous effect. If it's successful in getting your little dino to try something new or sit still during dinner, I'd count it a success. I'm not holding my breath regarding my own little monstersaurus, though. ;)

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this one to the kids I work with. They all really enjoyed it, as did I. It's a book about manners but makes it fun. The kids loved seeing the dinosaurs doing unmannerly things but understood that that wasn't what you were supposed to do. They were really big on the please and thank you part. Very fun book.

[معصومه توکلی · Rating 5 out of 5]

عنوان ترجمه ی فارسی:
هیچ می دونی دایناسوره
چه طور غذاشو می خوره؟

[Barbara Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Text-to-Teaching Connection:

I hate to admit it, but this would most definitely be a perfect book to read to my K1 class. They have had a very difficult time in the lunchroom and could use the gentle reminder on what the expectations are of them in the lunchroom. All the impolite behaviors described in the book are what I am currently dealing with so I would more than likely read this book about half and hour before lunch as a read aloud, so we could read the book and then discuss the different behaviors described in the book. It's a cute book, but my hope would be that after discussing it further and really going into detail on the expectations of the whole class that we may have some of those good behaviors roll-over into their lunchtime. I would start it on a Monday and then read it everyday before lunch as a reminder and also as way to start a mini lesson. Some options would be for students to draw the good behaviors discussed in the book, write about their experiences in the lunch room or draw a picture. If their picture reflects a bad choice or bad behavior, then I would ask them to draw me another picture or write how they would change it to make it a good choice.

[Isabella · Rating 5 out of 5]

The illustrations and story told in this short tale has been part of my fondest memories of my night stories when I was young. These were great books.

[Lydia McGregor · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I am glad that it finished with how to properly behave when eating/sitting at the dinner table, I fear the majority of this book was too suggestive of bad ideas for my toddlers. The illustrations were great & the story was fine, just not for us! Would not check out again.

[Samantha Sheeran · Rating 4 out of 5]

How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food by Jane Yolen and Mark Teaque goes through all the sceniros about how dinosaurs could eat their food rudely. After this is done, it demonstrates how dinosaurs really eat their food; politely.

I really enjoyed this book and thought it could teach a very good lesson to children. The authors were smart by chosing dinosaurs becasue dinosaurs are soemthing that children love and are interested in. The book is rhymes, which is very good for holding children's attention. The illustrations match the words and are also humorous. For example: the first illustration that has words with it shows a way oversized dinosaur sitting at a kitchen table, and one of the other illustrations shows a dinosaur in the restaraunt. Children would probably find these illustrations hilarious because they would never see dinosaurs acting like humans. I think the colors are a little dull, but feel like that if they were bright it could take away from the humor of the illustrations and the point of the story. I like that the words are simply and big, making it a lot easier for young children to follow along and to read. My favorite aspect of the story is the lesson it teaches. It demonstrates to children that manners while eating are important. It gives children a perfect example on how to act while eating, and the illustrations also help. For example: "He never drops anything onto the floor. And after he's finished, he asks for some more." This line in the book has an illustration beside it of a dinosaur with a clean plate and he appears to be asking his "parents" for seconds. Overall, I enjoyed How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? because The words and illustrations were simple and matched. Also because it teaches young children good manners and gives them good examples about how to have good manners.

[Rory Scott Douglas · Rating 4 out of 5]

As part of the "How Do Dinosaurs..." series, Yolen and Teague collaborate to bring us another role model book wrapped up in a simple digestible format. Mark Teague's illustrations are engaging and have a nonsensical edge that allows a time-old message to be reiterated in a enjoyable way.

The book, written in a series of rhyming questions, follows a series of common child-like reactions to food and highlights how silly they seem. At the same time it asks children to really think about the consequences and expectations involved with meal times.

As a reception teacher the challenge of dinnertime can seem a constant losing battle which must be magnified during parenthood. This book seems an ally with which to subvert the repetitive friction that can so easily occur around feeding time and hopes to inspire a mimicry that keeps young bodies fed and old heads happy.

I recommend for reading with children between 3 and 6 and, if the characters take, why not explore the rest of the series?

[DivaDiane SM · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a subscriber to Jane Yolen's poem a day email list, I pledged to buy or borrow one of her books from a library each month. This month I bought one of her many children's books - this one! This is a series of books - "How Do Dinosaur's..." and if they all are as cute as this one, I might have to buy more. My 3 yr. old son loved it. On the second reading he even answered enthusiastically to all the questions in the book like "Does he pick at his cereal,/throw down his cup,/hoping to make someone else pick it up?" My son,"No!!" The illustrations of the dinosaurs are wonderful and the names of them are also included (thank goodness because my son would have wanted to know anyway and then I would've been stuck. The message is pretty overt, but it is delivered in such an endearing way that it's hard to fault that.

[Tami · Rating 4 out of 5]

How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? blends a child's curiosity and interest in dinosaurs and the parental desire to teach table manners. The story starts out showing colourful illustrations of various types of dinosaurs as they are in the act of eating in ill-mannered ways. The caption below asks if the dinosaur ate this way. For instance, "does he bubble his milk?" At the end of the story, the child gets an answer that dinosaurs always ate with the best of manners.

Though definitely not realistic in it's depiction of how dinosaurs really ate, this book is fun. It also allows parents to reinforce table manners in a new less openly nagging way. This book also includes a cute little mini rendition of the same story for kids to carry in their pocket or to read along with.

[Rhaynes5]

How do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food is just a god funny book that the children love to read! They think it's funny and they love to see the different dinosaurs fumble over themselves in each illustration. I would use this book in the classroom to connect to the real world for children. Children love dinosaurs so if I were to do a unit on dinosaurs I would definitely include this book not to teach any facts about dinosaurs but may be to put inside one of my learning centers to support the theme as well as show students how to spell different dinosaurs names.

[Abby Peskin · Rating 2 out of 5]

In general I don’t LOVE the “how do dinosaurs” books - although the illustrations are cute, they always start with a long tirade about what not to do. This book also heavily emphasizes eating all of the food served and asking for more, which isn’t consistent with the idea that we want kids to check in with their bodies about whether they are still hungry or not.

[lunarlibrarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kids love dinosaurs :)

[QueenAmidala28 · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better series out there today in children's literature. One of the main reasons I love this series is because after you have read the book with your little one, you can start all over again and search for the dinosaur NAMES on each page! The names are written in tiny script wherever there is a new dinosaur! Very cool. There is also a full illustration with names in the beginning and the end of the books too.

The illustrations are great with various colors for each dinosaur and details that are big enough for a one year old to notice. Font is large and bold enough for new readers or even yearlings to follow along with the adults.

I didn't give this a five out of five stars because half the book is what you DON'T want your kids to do which then gives them the idea to do it (well for younger kids). Is that weird? Anyway, I highly recommend the LARGE hardback versions of these books so that kids can see the small details up close and in person and so that groups can see details too!

[Sara Stelmach · Rating 5 out of 5]

“How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food” by Jane Yolen is a rhythmic picture book about breaking the stereotypes of how dinosaurs eat their food. It starts by depicting all the imaginative rude and impolite ways one would think a dinosaur would eat. However, in the end, the book surprisingly describes a polite and mannerly way the dinosaurs actually eat. This is a wonderfully illustrated story with elaborate drawings of different dinosaurs all with their scientific name somewhere on the page. The drawings hilariously depict the different ideas of the way one would think dinosaurs would eat. This is a wonderful story to read aloud to children because of the rhythmic qualities of the writing and the beautiful drawing that would keep children engaged. I would recommend this book to be read aloud to children in pre-k to children in 2nd grade.

[Jamie Jessup · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh man, do I wish this book had been out when my brother was a young kid. He used to take his entire unfinished plate and throw it like a frisbee onto the floor (we had to eventually buy plates with suction cups on the bottom). Learning table manners is such an important part of growing up and I know for a lot of kids that it can be tough to remember. I would read this book aloud to the class and then ask them to try some of the table manners talked about in the book during lunch. After lunch I would ask what kinds of table manners students tried, and if they saw any manners at lunch that were not good behaviors. I would use this book in K-3rd grade classrooms because even students that are a little bit older can have trouble with table manners.

[R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another one that my kids got as part of a set from a school book order. They love dinosaurs, so this seemed like an easy reader that they would both enjoy. So far, we've been right. This book focuses on table manners and the importance of eating the food given, including what's good for you. As with others in the series, it starts off rather jokingly asking if dinosaurs do a host of different things that would be considered rude or generally bad manners. About halfway through it turns around and shows what hey actually should do as far as being grateful and using good manners instead. Makes a very easy and quick reference for "good dinosaur" vs "bad dinosaur" which has the kids doing their own self assessments to be "good dinosaurs" themselves. Have to approve of that!

[Francesca Merkel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a very creative way to help students understand table manners as they work through the story. By reading this picture book, children will now understand what polite table manners are and how they can demonstrate them. I also thought it was interesting that the reader would assume dinosaurs are impolite, messy eaters but the author uses them to show polite table manners instead. This story is very easy to follow for children which makes it very enjoyable. The illustrations included in the book were creative and could offer adults an opportunity to further discuss proper table manners. However, if a student wanted to read a book about dinosaurs and saw this book, they may choose to read it and find out that it is not really about dinosaurs.

[Ali Book&Seaglasshunter · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was my second time trying a book from this series and I’m just not a fan. First, I hate the focus on the “negative” behaviors of the children. Some of them are things my kids have never done, some of them are kind of age appropriate depending on what age the child you’re reading them to is, and some don’t fit my parenting style or advice I’ve received from actual dietitians about healthy eating habits (such as the forced try it bite rule). My kid was disturbed by the kids “turning into dinosaurs”, and I didn’t like that the dinosaurs were always a “he”, even when the matching child was a girl. Beyond that we just found it a bit boring and too long.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

How do Dinosaurs eat their food? Do they spit half eaten broccoli on the floor? Do they fidget in the chair, or throw spaghetti in the air? No! A dinosaur says Please and Thank You and sits very still. He makes no loud noises, that isn't polite and he always tries new things, even just one bite.

This would be a good book for a unit on the food pyramid or My Plate.

It would also be good for a dinosaur unit as each dinosaur that appears has their scientific name in the picture with them.

It would also be a good book for a unit on manners.

[Arminzerella · Rating 3 out of 5]

This picture book in verse models good (and terrible) table manners by using dinosaurs in place of well-behaved (and unruly) children. Sometimes kids are very much like dinosaurs. UNCOUTH. WILD. ENORMOUS. DESTRUCTIVE. RUDE. This went over well in storytime - the kids thought the dinosaurs were funny and did super gross things with their food. Much appreciated. The expressions of disapproval, shock and disgust on the adult humans' faces in this book are spot on and funny when you can observe them up close. Great fun!

[Classroom #9 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This dinosaur book has hilarious illustrations to resemble our giant reptile friends. The idea of this story is to teach children how they should behave at a dinner table. The book starts out with impolite gestures to do at a dinner table such as burping, belching, and throwing food on the floor. Then by the second half of the book our dinosaur friends demonstrate polite gestures to do at a table such as using words like "please" and "thank you". It takes an interest on what dinosaurs are doing at the dinner table.

[Kate M. Colby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack borrowed this book from the Oxford Public Library. I picked it because this series is quickly becoming one of his favorites.

When I took the book out this afternoon, Jack quickly grabbed it and began flipping through the pages. He especially like the end pages full of Dino illustrations. I asked if he wanted me to read it, and he did, and he stayed attentive the whole time and laughed at the silly Dinos. I hope they inspire him to try new foods and be less grumpy about sitting at the dining table!

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The prospect of having a protoceratops come over for dinner or of joining a quetzalcoatlus for a fancy restaurant meal is sure to amuse young readers. Playful dinosaurs populate this clever tale that’s guaranteed to keep young readers laughing at the dinosaurs’ mischievous table manners.

Colorfully illustrated with the dinosaurs all but leaping from the page, this is a book guaranteed to please young dinosaur-lovers.

Recommended.

[Jessica Buchanan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I chose this book because it is extremely important that the children get the right amount of nutrients and should know the benefits of eating healthy. Even though in the book the dinosaurs misbehave and throw giant tantrums, in the end they learn the importance of eating healthy. To try and help with this in my classroom, I would ask the children who they look up to and then tell them how it's important to eat healthy so you can grow big and strong just like them.

[Allyson Goose · Rating 4 out of 5]

My kids (ages 5 and 7) thought this book about table manners was funny. I did, too. Some manners were not our house rules though, like needing to take a bite out of all new foods and asking for a second helping.

My gripe is that all there were no females in the book at all. All the dinosaurs were gendered male. Honestly, I could have switched the genders when reading this aloud without my youngest noticing it, but I shouldn’t have to do that.

[Ms. Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a great book for both in and out of the classroom that goes over what not to do and what to do when eating - how there are manners and what is expected. The kids love seeing all the "bad" ways to do something and coming up with ways that they should do it instead. It's a great reminder of good manners and how to act.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Confession time: This is actually my favorite book in this series. I've been using it in storytimes about dinosaurs for years, and picking it up again in order to read it to my homeschooling kids was fun. The kids liked it, too, although I think they thought that the badly behaved dinosaurs were the ones they want to emulate! lol

[Maggie Kasparek · Rating 5 out of 5]

I chose this book because I remember reading this in preschool. I remember that we used this book to teach us manners and how to properly sit at a table and use table manners. This is a great book to teach about table manners with fictional characters. This is a fun book to teach about some really important things but in a non-threatening way.