Dinosaur Dinner (With A Slice of Alligator Pie)

Favorite Poems by Dennis Lee

Selected by Jack Prelutsky

Illustrated by Debbie Tilley

"To foster creativity in children, we must first find it within ourselves"

Dinosaur Dinner (With A Slice of Alligator Pie) is a selection of short, silly, rhyming poems. Each poem is effectively accompanied with a cartoon drawing, creating a complementing visual image to the text. What I liked most about this book was in fact, the title! I remember reading the poem Alligator Pie when I was in elementary school and absolutely loving the rhyming scheme associated with the poem. Everytime I say the poem in my mind, I do so with an exaggerated tone of expression, emphasizing words in some phrases and changing the volume of my voice for others. I think that when children are presented with fun, silly and simple poems, they are enabled a personal connection with that poem because it is something that is exciting and appealing to them. When children find a personal connection with poetry then a love of poetry is fostered.  When I was a teenager, I used poetry as a means to convey my personal thoughts and emotions. However, unlike Dinosaur Dinner (With A Slice of Alligator Pie), my poems tended to be sappy and sweet, thoughtful and sad.  Reading this particular book inspired me to pick up my pen, pull on my thinking hat and give a go at the poetry skills again-this time with a new twist! I believe that in order to foster creativity in children, we must first find creativity within ourselves.

Vanilla chocolate cake, vanilla chocolate cake

 I eat too much, it gives a toothache.

I eat a piece of light, then I eat a piece of dark

I can't get enough of vanilla chocolate cake

Vanilla chocolate cake, vanilla chocolate cake
It's goodness is so yummy, I simply cannot wait
Moist, soft and great. Sugar coated sweet
Gimme some o'that vanilla chocolate cake

Dinosaur Dan, Dinosaur Dan

My bestest friend, he's cool, wild and down

A trickster too, he's fun to be around

Dinosaur Dan, oh Dinosaur Dan

Peter, Tom and Polly, Peter, Tom and Polly

They had a sister and her name was Molly

They liked to jump around, outside the skirts of town

Oh how I miss silly Peter, Tom and Polly