The dinosaur did it by R. M. McGurk. Illus. by Aleksandra Szmidt

The planning for Imogen’s circus act gets a little beyond her as she practises making mud pies, and covers the walls with her paintings. When dad looks in, astonished, he asks for an explanation. Imogen blames a dinosaur. Dad asks how big this animal is, and Imogen answers, enormous. And its teeth he asks, the sharpest, she responds. Dad asks why it did not clean up. Because it ran away, says Imogen, as she walks out of the room. But walking down the corridor, she hears loud footsteps behind her.

The dinosaur wants to know why she blames him. Imogen ignores him. He interrupts her reading, then eats one of her puzzle pieces. And even tries to get into her blanket fort with her.

Finally she admits that the dinosaur did not do it, it was her. She owns up. She cleans up the mess she has made, helped by the dinosaur, but when he drops something and it smashes, he passes the blame onto someone else.

Being honest and taking the blame are wrapped around this cute story. Imogen is like most of the readers, wanting to blame someone else rather than take the blame for something that has gone wrong. Many children will identify with Imogen, and will be able to offer excuses they have used in the past. But being honest is the purpose of this tale which includes an imaginary friend who is made to take the blame.

Themes: Imaginary friend, Honesty, Family.

Fran Knight