A dinosaur ate Dad's hair by Trent Roberts and Chrissie Krebs
Omnibus Books, 2019. ISBN: 9781742762678.
(Age: 4-8) Recommended. Themes: Humour, Fathers, Father's Day, Hair.
A unique and hilarious look at the reasons that one father comes up
with for explaining his hairless head, even though he does have very
hairy legs and a beard. First he says that a dinosaur ate his hair,
but the child is not convinced by that argument and then he comes up
with a number of implausible reasons culminating in the last one:
his hair just fell out, the one that his children find the funniest
of all.
The reasons that Dad give are very imaginative, especially the
Ty-eat-your-hair-us Rex that attacked his hair and the hair rope
that was used to rescue a ship's captain. All are accompanied by
cartoon like illustrations that still feel really life like. Readers
will be sure to identify with them and enjoy thinking of people that
they remind them of.
This could be read aloud to younger children who will enjoy the
narrative and pictures and emerging readers will have lots of fun
with the text and the humour, working out what is true and false and
perhaps researching to see why some men are bald. Teachers might
take the opportunity to talk about good manners when asking
questions about someone's appearance. However it is the humour of
the illustrations and narrative that make this a great read aloud
and lots of fun.
Pat Pledger