newbery honor author 

new york times bestseller

Gennifer Choldenko
Gennifer Choldenko
Dad and the Dinosaur

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Dad and the Dinosaur

writ­ten by Gen­nifer Chold­enko
illus­trat­ed by Dan San­tat
ages 4 to 9
G.P. Put­nam’s Sons
ISBN 978–0‑399–24353‑0

Synopsis

A heart­warm­ing father-son sto­ry about brav­ery and fac­ing fears.

Nicholas was afraid of the dark out­side his door, the bush­es where the giant bugs live, and the under­side of man­hole covers.

His dad was not afraid of anything.

Nicholas wants to be as brave as his dad, but he needs help. That’s why he needs a dinosaur. After all, dinosaurs like the dark, bugs are noth­ing to them, and they eat man­hole cov­ers for lunch (and every­thing under them for dinner).

With his toy dinosaur, Nicholas can scale tall walls, swim in deep water, even score a goal against the huge goalie every­one calls Goril­la. But when the dinosaur goes miss­ing, every­thing is scary again.

Luck­i­ly, his dad knows that even the bravest peo­ple can get scared, and it’s okay to ask for help fac­ing your fears. It’s just guy stuff.

Awards and Recognition

  • Alaba­ma Chil­dren’s Choice Book Award nominee

  • Camel­lia Book Award nom­i­nee (Alaba­ma Chil­dren’s Choice)

  • Capi­tol Choic­es 2018 Read­ing List

  • Col­orado Children’s Choice Book Award nominee

  • French lan­guage edition

  • Geor­gia: Children’s Book Award nominee

  • Junior Library Guild

  • Kansas: Bill Mar­tin Jr. Pic­ture Book Award nom­i­nee 2019

  • South Car­oli­na School Library Book Award Nominee

  • Wis­con­sin’s Pic­ture This Read­ing List

Reviews

  “Choldenko’s poignant fan­ta­sy envi­sions a father who, like a cer­tain tyran­nosaur, looms large in his son’s mind. Her know­ing, under­stat­ed sto­ry­telling and Santat’s warm, expres­sive spreads give full cre­dence to the fears that weigh on kids, as well as the presences—both real and imagined—that can help alle­vi­ate them.” (Pub­lish­ers Week­ly, starred review)

“A win­ning book sure to attract and delight a wide audi­ence.” (School Library Jour­nal)

“Mul­ti­lay­ered, real­is­tic illus­tra­tions com­bined with relat­able text make the sto­ry not only about the inner tur­moil of a lit­tle boy, but a deep­er reflec­tion on the bond between a father and son.” (The Wash­ing­ton Post)

“With a New­bery Hon­or book to her cred­it, [Chold­enko] cre­ates dear char­ac­ters that move through a mild­ly sus­pense­ful plot to find answers… . Won­der­ful­ly expres­sive mul­ti­me­dia art by a Calde­cott Medal­ist estab­lish­es dra­mat­ic scenes, full of fears and fear­less­ness, anx­i­ety and appre­ci­a­tion.” (San Fran­cis­co Chron­i­cle)

“Chold­enko excels in cre­at­ing believ­able char­ac­ters whose empa­thy and emo­tion­al quo­tients match their oth­er suc­cess­es. … This works as a sto­ry about brav­ery, as well as a paean to dads.” (Book­list)

“One of my new favorite dad books.” (The Salt Lake Tri­bune)

“Gen­nifer Chold­enko pays respect to the code of man­ly courage … In Dan Santat’s rich moody illus­tra­tions, the dinosaur looms pro­tec­tive­ly over the boy as a pow­er­ful alter ego.” (Wall Street Jour­nal)

“Chold­enko has writ­ten a per­fect gift for Father’s Day.” (San Jose Mer­cury News)

“Excit­ing, dra­mat­ic art­work seems to pop out of these big pages…. A super choice for Father’s Day.” (The Atlanta Jour­nal Con­sti­tu­tion)

“A sweet book for Father’s Day.” (Oma­ha World Her­ald)

“A sweet and mov­ing tale about child­hood fears and the spe­cial bond between a father and son.” (Bay Area Par­ent)

“When [Nicholas] los­es [his dinosaur], it is his father that comes to his res­cue and helps him see that they can be fear­less togeth­er.” (West­ern New York Fam­i­ly Mag­a­zine)

“I like it because there’s a dinosaur and a lit­tle boy like me in it, and I like dinosaurs. I like that he plays sports.” (Hon­olu­lu Fam­i­ly, 6‑year-old reviewer)

“A touch­ing sto­ry about being brave.” (Bright­ly)