The Dinosaur Who Lived In My Backyard

Written by B.G. Hennessy and Illustrated by Susan Davis (1988)

This story is a little boy explaining what it was like to have a dinosaur living in his backyard and he goes onto explain things about the dinosaur as well. We learn very simple things such as his dinosaur having a very long neck and we are given comparison to real life objects regarding the dinosaurs' size. I was a big dinosaur growing up so I liked this book and enjoyed the colorful illustrations that were included. I liked that the illustrations and text work together to tell the story as well. I always wondered what it would be like to have dinosaurs around, so maybe this book helped answer some of those questions or maybe not.

I think this would be a great book for discussing how illustrations reinforce the text. The author says the dinosaur was bigger than a school bus, even a house and the dinosaur being much larger than both the house and car. As something fun to do with younger children they could imitate and act out how dinosaurs would have walked all those years ago. As a writing assignment I would have the students think of other non-existent and even mystical creatures, then create a story telling the reader about what it was like living with such a creature or being. The point is the have the students become critical thinkers and work on their writing skills at the same time.