DINO PAJAMA PARTY; A Bedtime Book

If you are visiting this blog for the first time, (WELCOME!) my blog title says it all: Picture Books Are Powerful! I love all kinds of picture books, for too many reasons to list here. (Curious? Check past posts HERE , HERE, and HERE for some examples of ways picture books speak to me, and to readers of any age!)

I particularly appreciate and celebrate picture books that reveal untold/forgotten/hidden stories, especially ones that are deeply researched, artfully told, and appealingly documented/extended in back mattter. Books like these by author Laurie Wallmark. I recommend that you bookmark Wallmark's site and follow her writing progress closely. She has several more WOMEN IN STEM titles coming, she teaches writing workshops, and ... wait for it... she has a brand new picture book coming out for little ones: DINO PAJAMA PARTY: A BEDTIME BOOK!

Running Press Kids, 2021

Yes, you read that correctly. The target audience for this new book is a younger demographic, and it stars paleolithic party animals who are childlike to the bone. Decked out in sleep caps, bunny slippers, jammies, and footed sleepers, teddy bears in hand, these lighthearted and limber lizards are irresistible. 

If you've ever known a kiddo who wants to stay in jammies all day long, you'll recognize this crew as they gather in bright sunlight for a full day of music, dance, and partying, until, as sunset approaches, their tails and wings are dragging!

 

Page by page, Wallmark's crisply rhymed couplets  invite audiences to chime in, since read-it-again requests are guaranteed. Word choice is both familiar and expansive as the dinos "rock" and "roll", "stomp" and "stroll". The social gathering and musical components are especially appealing, with huge potential for little ones to imitate and participate in the dancing, plinking, strumming, and drumming of the "PJ's" band. The fact that this pajama party is an all day affair is a delightful twist and clever wordplay on the assumed "slumber party" you can be forgiven for imagining. It may be particularly helpful for bedtime kids who insist that they aren't yet sleepy. Once they are washed, flossed, and jammied-up, let them join the fun for several reading/performances until they, too, are dragging their tails under their covers! 

Running Press Kids, Interior, Michael Robertson/Laurie Wallmark, 2021

Illustrator Michael Robertson fully embraced the spirited dino community, setting them in a cartoonish contemporary community, developing each with distinctive clothing and characteristics that will have little ones finding favorites, savoring details, and even naming specific dinos. I was particularly delighted by the bedtime twist that revealed they all returned to sleep in a dino-dorm instead of sprawling across a family room floor somewhere. Singly and in pairs, they are all tucked into a matched set of beds, snugly sleeping under their own comfy covers. Soon, not surprisingly, they are all snoring.

With Wallmark's track record and ongoing successes in extended-text, nonfiction picture book writing, I was intrigued about how and when and why this delightful story and style entered her writing life. She graciously agreed to answer some interview questions, which will be shared here in a post later in October. For now, you can preorder the book (release  date 10/19/2021), HERE, HERE, or HERE.  i suggest you do that. The global supply chain glitches seem to have had an impact on paper supplies and  bulk shipping, so a preorder is the best way to assure that your intended readers will not be disappointed. 

Once it reaches your hands and their eyes/ears, there will be no disappointment!