Danny and the Dinosaur

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Danny and the Dinosaur is a popular children's book by Syd Hoff, first published by Harper & Row in 1958. It has sold over six million copies and has been translated into a dozen languages. The book inspired two sequels by Syd Hoff: Happy Birthday, Danny and the Dinosaur! and Danny and the Dinosaur Go to Camp. It also won the distinction New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year.

[edit] Plot

"One day Danny went to the museum" is the first sentence of this book. In the museum, Danny sees other things, but almost immediately he directs his attention to the dinosaur section of the museum and is surprised that there is a living dinosaur in there. Both agree to play with each other, and Danny rides out of the museum on the dinosaur's neck.

After stopping for a red light, Danny and his dinosaur have many adventures and mishaps, including...

• the dinosaur mixing up a building for a rock
• watching a baseball game
• having to eat ice cream after seeing the "Do Not Touch Grass" sign
• going to the zoo, and
• playing hide and seek with other children

The dinosaur also proves to be well-intentioned throughout the story, for he helps a lady cross the street, takes Danny across a river, and lets the children use him as a slide. He (or she; the illustrations are suggestive, but the text is not definitive) also seems to be a celebrity, as the illustrations suggest hundreds or thousands of people leave the zoo to play with Danny and the dinosaur. This is probably because they have never seen a living dinosaur before, and they want to play with him.

Danny and the Dinosaur ends when it becomes late and all the children walk home. Danny waits until the dinosaur walks back to the museum, then he himself walks back to his house alone. While walking home, he thinks about one of the things first stated in the story: he wants a dinosaur for a pet, but he realizes the dinosaur would be too big to stay at his house. As he walks up the driveway, the last line is a sentence spoken by Danny: "But we did have a wonderful day."

[edit] Trivia

• The billboard which the dinosaur hides behind says, "Brush your teeth every day." It shows a picture of a boy brushing his teeth.