Imagine having a dinosaur in the house.
At first, it sounds brilliant.
You would have someone enormous to play with. Someone who could reach the highest shelf, carry the biggest toys and make even the most ordinary afternoon feel like the beginning of an expedition.
There is only one small problem.
Dinosaurs are not particularly helpful around the house.
They definitely don’t do dishes.
When dinosaurs come to stay
Dinos Don’t Do Dishes: (But They Do Have Adventures!) is built around a wonderfully simple idea: dinosaurs might be terrible at everyday chores, but when adventure calls, they are very difficult to beat.
A dinosaur may not understand why muddy footprints across the kitchen floor are a problem.
It might consider tidying toys completely unnecessary.
Making the bed could quickly turn into bouncing on it.
And asking a dinosaur to help wash the dishes?
Probably best avoided altogether.
But take that same dinosaur outside and suddenly everything changes.
A trip into the garden becomes a jungle expedition.
A walk through the woods becomes a search for hidden creatures.
A puddle becomes an enormous prehistoric swamp.
And a cardboard box might become anything from a dinosaur transporter to a time machine.
Adventures are everywhere
One of the joys of childhood is the ability to turn ordinary places into extraordinary ones.
Children do not necessarily need enormous castles, mysterious islands or spaceships to begin an adventure.
Sometimes they simply need imagination.
Add a dinosaur, of course, and things become considerably more interesting.
The fun behind Dinos Don’t Do Dishes comes from combining the familiar world children know with the wonderfully ridiculous idea of dinosaurs trying to fit into it.
What happens when a dinosaur goes shopping?
Can a dinosaur behave itself at a picnic?
Should dinosaurs be allowed near birthday cakes?
What would happen if one joined you on a family day out?
And exactly how much trouble can one dinosaur cause before teatime?
Quite a lot, as it happens.
Big creatures, big personalities
Dinosaurs are endlessly fascinating to young children, but they do not always need to be frightening.
They can be clumsy.
Curious.
Cheeky.
Hungry.
Brave.
Helpful in completely unexpected ways.
And occasionally very confused by the strange rules humans seem to have invented.
That gives dinosaur stories enormous scope for humour while still leaving plenty of room for excitement and discovery.
The dinosaurs in these adventures are not simply creatures to look at.
They are characters children can laugh with, cheer for and occasionally wonder whether inviting one home was such a good idea after all.
Stories made for sharing
Books for younger readers are often at their best when adults enjoy reading them too.
Silly situations, unexpected disasters and repeated jokes can turn reading time into something shared rather than something that feels like another lesson.
There is room for roaring.
There is room for ridiculous dinosaur noises.
There is even room for discussing the very important question of whether a Tyrannosaurus rex could actually hold a washing-up brush.
Probably not.
Those arms are going to cause problems.
The serious business of being silly
Funny stories can still do useful things.
Adventures encourage children to imagine possibilities beyond the page. Characters can introduce ideas about friendship, cooperation, curiosity, confidence and solving problems without turning the story into a lecture.
Most importantly, they encourage children to associate books with enjoyment.
A child who wants to know what happens next has already discovered one of the great pleasures of reading.
And sometimes the best way to encourage that discovery is with a very large dinosaur causing a very large amount of trouble.
So, do Dinos do dishes?
Absolutely not.
You really should not trust them with the crockery.
But they might explore a mysterious forest.
They might discover something unexpected in the garden.
They might turn an ordinary afternoon into an expedition.
They might even save the day.
So perhaps we can forgive them for leaving the washing-up to someone else.
Dinos Don’t Do Dishes: (But They Do Have Adventures!)
Because chores are boring.
Dinosaurs are not.
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