WHAT IF DADDY WERE A DINOSAUR?

Two children urge their dad to play prehistoric pretend.

On a rainy day, two children, who present white, lie restless on a couch while their father works from home. He appears stressed, so they urge him to give up his task to play with them instead. He asks if they want to build a fort or play superheroes, but what they really desire is for him to be a dinosaur. “What if Daddy were a pterodactyl? We’d climb on your back and rocket up high, / Soaring through clouds as we zoom through the sky.” Dad, in his button-down shirt, tie, and slacks, becomes a business casual pterodactyl soaring past a jetliner, but the children don’t stop there. They conjure up other imaginative possibilities: a stegosaurus that serves as a school bus, dolphin-watching cruise on top of a spinosaurus, and a triceratops that chugs toward a tunnel like a train. Even bedtime can’t stop the children from finding prehistoric ways to bring their family closer together. Manley’s debut picture book, a lively rhyming ode to parent-child relationships, is sure to be a hit in dinosaur-loving households. The different iterations of dad-as-dinosaur all focus on the adult as someone who carries their children (or passengers) through adventures, an apt metaphor for parenting. Baykovska’s illustrations are reminiscent of a polished version of the drawings a child may give their father, but include subtle winks, like Dad casting a subtle dinosaur shadow.

A sweet depiction of imaginative playtime with Dad.