How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? (2004)

How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? is the animated children's story that anchors this seven-story collection. Author Jane Yolen narrates -- bedtime stories are a specialty of hers, I've attended one of her storytimes (and supplied the milk and cookies) -- and the illustrations by Mark Teague are delightfully Edward Hopperesque. It's a creative and colorful depiction of how children's bedtime procrastinations resemble dinosaurs thrashing and gnashing about (even jumping on beds). Think of that kids' macaroni commercial but with T-Rexes and Stegosaurs that eventually kiss their parents night-night and drift off to dreamland. Yolen is a master; her writing tends to become a modern classic and this story fills the bill. Animated stories that follow are In the Small, Small Pond written by Denise Fleming and narrated by Laura Dern (frogs and cranes drawn in colorful splotches explore their aquatic habitat); Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin written by Lloyd Moss with music by Marvin Hamlisch (eleven musicians with instruments drawn in a loose European style gradually compile a symphonic ensemble); All the Colors of the Earth by Shiela Hamanka (a multiracial gaggle of kids celebrates a multicolored world); and for three "bonus" stories Joey Runs Away by Jack Kent (a young kangaroo runs away from "home" -- his mother's pouch -- to avoid cleaning his comically cluttered room); A Weekend With Wendall by Kevin Henkes (a boy mouse, as a selfish houseguest, drives a girl mouse crazy); and Moon Man by Tomi Ungerer (a luminous, scintillating, and phase-shifting man-in-the-moon visits earth and has wacky adventures). The stories are all wonderfully illustrated and pleasingly narrated but the pond, violin, and color stories are educational while the dinosaur, kangaroo, mouse, and moon stories are by far my favorites. The shimmering man-in-the-moon feels ethereal and his revels suggest the work of Winston McKay. (I acquired this disc from the library and a disc error prevented Moon Man's display but it's also available on YouTube.) 3.5 stars. (11-18-08)