Edwina The Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She was Extinct

Written and Illustrated by Mo Willems

Accessed 09-10-2013. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/197513.Edwina_the_Dinosaur_Who_Didn_t_Know_She_Was_Extinct 

Willems, Mo. 2006. Edwina The Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She was Extinct. Ill by Mo Willems. New York: Hyperion Books for Children. ISBN 07886837489

Summary

Edwina is the cookie baking, hat wearing, helpful dinosaur that the whole town knows and loves. Reginald Von HoobieDoobie is the smart, vocal, know-it-all who wants the townsfolk to listen to what he knows and face the fact that Edwina is extinct! Finally, after lectures, songs and dances that no one listens to, Reginald Von HoobieDoobie sits down with the attentive Edwina and explains that she is, in fact, extinct.   After carefully listening to Reginald Von HoobieDoobie’s extinction argument, Edwina is appalled, but she realizes that it doesn’t matter because she is who she is – and Reginald Von HoobieDoobie discovers that his know-it-all facts don’t matter either, because he likes Edwina just the way she is!

Critical Analysis

Mo Willems balances a myriad of life lessons within this humorous tale of acceptance and friendship. By showing readers two sides of a disagreement, if Edwina is extinct or not, readers get to look past the facts to see the person behind them. In the case of Edwina, Reginald finds someone to truly listen to him, to hear his arguments and understand what he is trying to say. Edwina helps to show Reginald that knowing and understanding are two different things – and in the end, it is who we are that truly matters.  This tale uses delightful humor and classic archetypes to help readers of any age learn to value the individual.

Mo Willem’s illustration technique is clean and appealing in its quirky, colorful cartoon style.  The illustrations reflect a modern, accepting community that nearly every reader can relate to -  except for the large green dinosaur! Edwina the dinosaur is depicted with humor and warmth as a large, green, hat and pearl wearing, handbag toting, manicured dinosaur. Her expression is open and helpful and her manners are kind enough to take the scowl off the face of Reginald Von HoobieDoobie’s! Additionally, Mr. Willems tucks images of his classic characters into his illustrations, creating a fun “find the Pigeon” project for avid Mo Willems fans!

Edwina The Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She was Extinct strengths come from reflecting the strengths and weaknesses that reside within each of us and bringing them out into the open with humor and charm. By allowing us to enjoy the frustration and reconciliation of Reginald we can all reflect on our human desire to be right! By highlighting the kind and human characteristics of Edwina, we see the value of looking past the exteriors of our neighbors and peers.  Edwina The Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She was Extinct gives readers the best of both worlds – a lesson in life and a good hearty laugh.

Awards

National Parenting Publications Award, 2006

Reviews

Publishers Weekly (07/17/2006):
Matronly Edwina, a lichen-green T. Rex wearing a beribboned straw bonnet and toting a lavender handbag on her claw, loves doing community service. Crayony sketches show her fixing a street lamp (no ladder necessary) and letting kids slide down her back. "Everybody loved Edwina... except Reginald Von Hoobie-Doobie." Reginald, a precocious boy with malicious tilted eyebrows, passionately delivers a report on " 'Things That Are Extinct.' Specifically, dinosaurs." His classmates, whose doodles of Edwina hang on the bulletin board, swiftly contradict him and run outside to have some of the dino's homemade cookies. Yet Reginald doesn't give up (and another book might present such stubbornness as admirable). His desperate efforts to be heard finally attract Edwina's maternal solicitude, and in a bombastic pantomime sequence, he presents her with "the truth about dinosaurs." Afterward, "Reginald felt fantastic! No one had ever listened to him so well for so long," and Edwina "knew she was extinct." Even better, disillusionment doesn't change Edwina. "She just didn't care. And, by then... neither did Reginald Von Hoobie-Doobie." The fellow has finally found a friend. In the closing image, Edwina bakes cookies for her new pal. Like Willems's "Leonardo the Terrible Monster", this is a tale about craving attention, but the reassuring tone and expert pacing will win over readers. More important, the book comments on polite debate and helps raise useful questions. Is there such a thing as too much knowledge? Can popular notions be challenged? Should we listen to others, even when we don't agree? For Edwina, ignorance is bliss, but awareness is good, too. Ages 4-7. "(Sept.) " Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal (09/01/2006):
K-Gr 2 -Edwina the dinosaur is known and loved throughout the town for her many acts of kindness and her excellent chocolate-chip cookies. The literal-minded class know-it-all, Reginald Von Hoobie-Doobie, sets out to prove to everyone that dinosaurs are extinct. No one pays the slightest attention to him; ironically, only Edwina is convinced (not that she cares). In the end, as Reginald sits enjoying her cookies, he finds that he doesn -t care either. Willems -s expressive cartoon style makes the most of his fabled ability with line. Readers will enjoy Edwina in her straw hat, handbag, delicately painted claws, beribboned hat and simple strand of pearls, and especially her expression of utter shock when she realizes she is extinct. Aesthetically, this is neither as elegantly designed as Willems -s -Pigeon - books (Hyperion) nor as bold a departure as his "Knuffle Bunny" (Hyperion, 2004), but it will nonetheless please the author -s many fans. The added pleasure of finding Knuffle Bunny and Pigeon in the illustrations is an unexpected bonus." -Kate McClelland, Perrot Memorial Library, Old Greenwich, CT" Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Connections

Edwina The Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She was Extinct is an ideal story time book for preschool through elementary age children. By pairing Edwina The Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She was Extinct with books like Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship, the storyteller can highlight the importance of finding friends who like us for who we are. With Owen and Mzee, kids hear the true story of friendship between two unlikely animals; a cranky old tortoise and a young lonely hippo. By being forced to confront each other, the two unlikely friends each changed their behavior to make room in their lives for each other. These two stories help readers understand the importance of going beyond what we think we know, to accepting someone for who they truly are.

References

Hatkoff, Isabella, Hatkoff, Craig. 2006. Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship.  Ill Peter Greste. New York: Scholastic Press ISBN 9780439927802

Publishers Weekly 07/17/2006 pg. 156 (EAN 9780786837489, Library Binding)

School Library Journal 10/01/2012 pg. 56 (EAN 9780786837489, Library Binding)