Edwina the Dinosaur

Title: Edwina: The Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct  

Author: Mo Willems

Author Study #3

Edwina: The Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct is an adorable story about a dinosaur named Edwina who lives in a town with humans. Edwina plays with the neighborhood kids, does favors for everyone in town, and bakes chocolate chip cookies. Everyone likes Edwina except a rotten boy named Reginald Von Hoobie-Doobie, who is just determined to prove to everyone that dinosaurs are in fact extinct. Reginald does a presentation for the class, hands out fliers, and protests, but no one seems to be listening to him! What is a boy to do? Finally, Edwina decides to listen to his evidence, and she must admit, he is very convincing! Edwina decides that she probably is extinct, but you know what? She just doesn’t care and by the time someone finally listens to him, neither does Reginald! 

I found this book to be particularly amusing because it reminded me of the typical classroom know-it-all that everyone encounters at some point or another during their educational career. What I found to be most interesting was that all Reginald wanted was for someone to listen to him. This was a pretty deep concept for such a seemingly shallow book. I must also compliment the pictures – as usual, Mo Willems has really made them spectacular! The way Edwina is drawn reminds me of an old lady. It is quite adorable. I would recommend this book to any classroom teacher in a K-2 classroom. Like Mo Willems’ other books, Edwina is a perfect story for a read aloud lesson or story time on the rug. It is also a good independent reading book because the pictures help the students figure out what is happening in the book and what the words are saying.