Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge 2016 is a weekly celebration of imaginative children’s nonfiction materials hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy.
Title: There’s a Stegosaurus on the Stairs
Author/Illustrator: Aleksei Bitskoff, Ruth Symons, Chris Jarvis
Publisher: QEB Publishing
Publication Date: 2013
Genre/Format: Nonfiction
My Two Cents:
You can’t really go wrong with dinosaurs. Throw a T-Rex, an apatosaurus or, as in the case of today’s book, a stegosaurus, in a book, fill it with some fun facts and eye-catching illustrations, and you’ve got at least a pretty decent chance of creating a kid-pleasing nonfiction title.
How might a stegosaurus react if it was transported to the modern day? Well, it would probably either start eating someone’s lawn or get into a fight with a car, but There’s a Stegosaurus on the Stairs takes a more lighthearted approach to dinosaurs information. The friendly stegosaurus plays on a seesaw in the playground with an elephant because the two animals weigh about the same (5.5 tons, if you were curious). Poor stegosaurus would likely struggle to keep up in school with a brain about the size of a tangerine (the fact that it wouldn’t fit through the classroom doors notwithstanding), and it would likely give its mother a bunch of flowers for Mother’s Day, cut with its sharp, plant-eating beak.
This certainly isn’t the most scientific of nonfiction dinosaur texts, but it does provide a significant amount of factual information in a way that might be more accessible for little dinosaur fanatics. The illustrations are cute and cartoony, too, making this a nice book for the youngest readers or more sensitive children who might be put off by scarier, more realistic dinosaur illustrations. And really, what kid hasn’t day-dreamed about bringing a dinosaur to their birthday party so it can open a pinata with its spike tail?
There is a very old book that I have titled If The Dinosaurs Came Back that is rather imaginative, but doesn’t give many facts. Your book sounds similar, but it’s fun that it includes real facts, & certainly feels interesting for young children. I think it might be good to tell them that imagination plays a role in it too, don’t you think? It looks very cute. Thanks Jane, new to me.
Very true! It would be a good conversation starter for talking about what fiction and nonfiction mean, and how the two can sometimes work together.
I love dinosaur books! This looks like one I’ll need to get for my son 🙂
Me too, I never really grew out of my dinosaur phase…. 🙂
I haven’t seen this one. Need to look for it. Thanks for sharing it.
Looks pretty charming!
It’s very cute, and it does help kids put things in perspective – being told than an animal weighs 5 tons isn’t quite the same as seeing it side-by-side with an elephant! 🙂