Drumheller Dinosaur Dance

Marie St. Onge-Davidson is president of the Essential English Centre in
Ottawa.

When the moon rises and everyone sleeps, Drumheller dinosaurs partake in
a delightfully bizarre dance. This charming book takes young children on
a spirited dance on the wild side, across the Badlands of Alberta. Along
the way they befriend dancing dinosaurs, then put them to rest before
they themselves go to sleep. The book’s fun-to-read, rollicking
rhymes, set in large lightning-white words on night colours of navy,
rust, and purple, appear to shimmy across the double-page spreads.

Of the nearly 400 known dinosaur species that have been discovered
worldwide, more than 60 are found in Alberta. Many of them can be seen
at the Royal Tyrell Museum in Drumheller. This book features some of the
more familiar ones in a rhythmic interpretation of a Badlands-of-Alberta
nighttime fantasy. The rhymes are partnered with exuberant illustrations
rendered in acrylics on gessoed paper.

Drumheller Dinosaur Dance would be an excellent choice to read to young
dinosaur lovers at bedtime—a book that turns scary dreams into great
fun. Recommended.