Ashling Kwok (text) and Jasmine Berry (illustrator), Where’s My Dinosaur?, Yellow Brick Books, September 2021, 32 pp., RRP $26.95 (hbk), ISBN 9780648492559
What a real treat this story is! A must have for any family preparing to bring home their newest member.
There’s something growing in Mummy’s tummy… I hope it’s a dinosaur. It could be a chick, a rabbit or even a friendly bear. An elephant or better yet, a dinosaur would make the perfect playmate for this little excited sibling-to-be. As her Mummy’s tummy grows, she imagines all manner of adventurous playmates, but her imagination could never conjure what she finds in the hospital room, swaddled on her Mummy’s lap. What can she do with that?
This comical story embraces the quirky and often absurd notions children concoct after taking adult explanations literally. After all, Mummy growing a ‘playmate’ could mean anything!
Author, Ashling Kwok, whose previous books include Lola and Grandpa and The Battle, has captured the innocence of children and the surreal nature of bringing a new baby into the family. The sense of somehow being let down when it was just a boring old ‘human’ Mummy was growing was hilarious. And the tantrum that entailed, supported by a vibrant double page splash of colour, was in fact an easily relatable scene for parents introducing babies to toddler siblings.
I enjoyed the illustrated resolution where the siblings played tentatively together surrounded by the toy version of the imagined playmates. The cyclic nature of the story was also a humourous touch, Mummy growing ‘something’ in her tummy and the youngest member of the family hoping it’s a dinosaur!
I’d recommend this story for any family preparing to introduce a new baby to their children aged 3-7 years.
Reviewed by Katie Mineeff
