I Don't Want to Be a Dinosaur ... or Do I?

by Judy Newman

I received the email I have been dreading. An invitation—and a request for my sweatshirt size—to the Scholastic Annual Dinosaur Luncheon.

I love my job. And I truly appreciate that I have been working at Scholastic, in the Book Clubs Division, since 1993. But I have always been skeptical of becoming a member of this very special club, which is open only to Scholastic staff who have been with the company for 25 years!

I don’t have anything against dinosaurs, but I never understood why any active, healthy, stillworking person would want to be a member of club named for an extinct species. I do love the fact that Scholastic celebrates employees with long tenure. It was just the association with extinction—being a dinosaur—that got to me.

This all got me thinking … since dinosaurs play such an outsize role and are such vibrant and hugely popular characters in all kinds of children’s books—both fiction and nonfiction—maybe in a way they aren’t truly extinct after all. Some of Scholastic Book Clubs’ most popular, perennial series feature dinosaurs:

I don’t have anything against dinosaurs, but I never understood why any active, healthy, stillworking person would want to be a member of club named for an extinct species."

How Do Dinosaurs Learn to Read?, the latest book in the How Do Dinosaurs? series by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague; Who Would Win? Tyrannosaurus Rex vs. Velociraptor, a favorite in the Who Would Win? series by Jerry Pallotta (Jerry visits more than 150 schools a year to help turn thousands of kids into avid readers!); What Was the Age of the Dinosaurs?, a nonfiction narrative by Megan Stine, illustrated by Greg Copeland in the What Was…? series.

This summer, I was on vacation in Colorado when I met two brothers—Skyler and Jasper. They are two enthusiastic, huge—and I mean truly dino-sized— dinosaur experts. Over lunch, we peeled off from the less interesting adult conversation at the other end of the table, and Skyler and Jasper regaled me with an impressive number of dinosaur “fun facts.”

Skyler explained to me that he had created his own dinosaur—the Platapusasussa—and that he continuously develops new findings about this dinosaur’s biology, habits, and habitat. He even drew me a picture of what his creature looks like!

Through their parents, I contacted Skyler and Jasper to see if they could help me out with this column. They responded enthusiastically! Here are their Top Five Dinosaur Fun Facts:

T. rex had the biggest teeth—they were each the size of a banana; Utah raptors were covered in feathers; Brachiosaurus weighed as much as four elephants; Giganotosaurus could swallow a person whole; Stegosaurus had the smallest brain (the size of a walnut) and they were the dumbest dinosaurs.

I asked which dinosaurs were their favorite and Jasper said the raptor because “they were small and sneaky, they run fast, and they hunt in packs, like I would do.” Skyler’s is the Mesosaurus because he “loves the water like me.”

When I asked why Jasper and Skyler loved dinosaurs so much, Jasper said, “There is lots of stuff to know about them and I’ve never seen them, and I like to learn about them.” Skyler said, “I like to do discoveries about them and what they looked like and what was strongest about them.”

Skyler (left) and Jasper (right) dig for fossils

Of course, I also want to know which dinosaur books they love! They really enjoy Dinosaurs Love Underpants by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort; My Big Dinosaur Book by Roger Priddy; and Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp by Carol Diggory Shields and Scott Nash.

At ages 6 and 4, Jasper and Skyler taught me a lot— much more even than the super Fun Fact that T. rex teeth are the size of bananas. These two brothers also showed me why dinosaurs matter so much: They capture kids’ imaginations in so many ways and inspire learning and creativity and true joy and interest in great books about their favorite subject, and there is nothing extinct about any of that.

So Jasper and Skyler—along with Mark Teague and Jane Yolen and Jerry Pallotta and so many other fabulous authors and illustrators who bring dinosaurs to life through books—have adjusted my attitude. I am going to approach the Scholastic Dinosaur Luncheon (being held at our stunning, newly renovated, contemporary Scholastic offices this December) with enthusiasm. I will wear my new Scholastic Dinosaur Club sweatshirt with pride. And I will not worry about being extinct.

In a way, we all want to be like dinosaurs: important role models in children’s lives who inspire kids to love to read and read to learn. I’m embracing my new “saurus” err, I mean, status. Because, at the end of the day, I will always be proud to be associated with anything that gets kids excited about reading. •

Judy Newman is President and Reader-in-Chief of Scholastic Book Clubs. For more information, visit judynewmanatscholastic.com.