PPBF: Crunch The Shy Dinosaur

Happy PPBF; today I'm excited to share one of my new faves.

Title: Crunch The Shy Dinosaur

Author: Cirocco Dunlap

Illustrator: Greg Pizzoli

Publisher: Random House Books For Young Readers

Birth Date: May 29, 2018

Suitable for ages: 3-7

Themes: shyness, friendship, manners

Brief synopsis: This interactive text helps introduce its readers to the concept of shyness and manners as the narrator involves the children in trying to coax Crunch out of his shyness shell so they can become friends with him.

Opening page: This is Crunch.

Resources: Check out the book's trailer:

Enjoy a read aloud with Maria Ashworth {here}.

Read a Literacious review {here}.

Check out some dinosaur-themed activities {here}.

Download a few dinosaur writing prompts {here}.

Dig into Scholastic with Dinosaur freebies {here}.

Why I like this book: Plain and simple, it's engagingly funny. Crunch, a super shy brontosaurus whose fear is bigger than he is, is reluctant to come out to engage with his readers. The simply whimsical and whimsically simply text playfully invites its readers to talk with Crunch, sing with Crunch, even dance with Crunch, whatever it takes to gently get him to take a leap of faith, trust and take a chance on a friendship. There's also a mindfulness page, where we get to do some deep breathing with Crunch. In the end, a worn-out Crunch feels sleepy, the perfect segue to nap time or nighttime tuck-in time for your little paleontologists.

Junior counselor Emma holding Pillar, my cautious caterpillar puppet, and I had a riveting discussion about how we can tell if someone is feeling shy and what they might want or need from us.

Crunch will always have a special place in my heart, not only because it's so adorable, but also because it's the book that I chose to read to my students on the last day of school last May. 

The day before I retired from public education.

After 34 years. 

My last read aloud, so I might be a little biased.

Still, I enthusiastically encourage you to check out this book;

I'm pretty confident that you'll be glad you did.

Then head over to Susanna Hill's blog for today's other PPBF picks.