“Dinopotamus Solves a Mystery” by Lois Wickstrom

Dinopotamus Solves a Mystery: A scientific method book

Lois Wickstrom
Look Under Rocks/Gripper Products (2020)
ISBN: 978-0916176877
Reviewed by Lydia (age 8) for Reader Views Kids

In the story “Dinopotamus Solves a Mystery” by Lois Wickstrom, Dinopotamus is at school with kids and a teacher. It is the end of naptime and the teacher is trying to wake them all up. All of the kids wake up, but not Dinopotamus. The kids notice that where Dinopotamus is sleeping, the floor is really warm. The kids are upset because they don’t have really warm nap places where they lay. Dinopotamus wakes up and can see the kinda warm places where the kids were sleeping and the really warm place where he was sleeping. Dinopotamus is nice, so decided to let the kids sleep in his spot the next day so they could be warm. After naptime, the kids said that their spot wasn’t really warm, but his spot was again. Dinopotamus figured out why his spots were warmer and showed the class that it is because he is bigger than they are. Then everyone in the classroom was happy and ready to sleep good at naptime.

I liked this story because Dinopotamus is nice to the kids and the kids are nice to him. I also like to be warm when I sleep. I’m too old for naptimes now at school but I wish I had them again. I liked how Dinopotamus was able to tell them how he figured out the mystery even though he can’t talk with words because he isn’t a person! I thought the book was easy to understand because it was at a school and I liked looking at the pictures with lots of color that filled the whole page.

Note from Mom: “Dinopotamus Solves a Mystery” is a simple story, but it still works as well as a complicated one. The concept of how bigger things produce more heat is an educational one that isn’t bad for kids to learn. I look forward to reading more of the “Dinopotamus” books with Lydia.