Happy birthday, Danny and the Dinosaur! is a book I would possibly read to a young class if a student had a birthday/birthday party during the school day. No matter how many times I read them, I look forward to the next time.
I get a lot out of my Syd Hoff easy readers.
I'd give this second book one and a half stars, but I'll round up to two. Happy Birthday, Danny and the Dinosaur! isn't as touching as the original, but it's a serviceable story with Syd Hoff's trademark warmth and juvenile wit, sure to be a hit with kids who go gaga for Danny and the Dinosaur. When you're half of a friendship that has delighted dino-loving youngsters for decades, what could be better than enjoying your adventures for another sweet year? Generations after Danny and the Dinosaur's debut, kids still adored Danny and his Jurassic friend. "I wish we can all be together again next year," Danny says, and his dinosaur seconds the sentiment. The wistful goodbye at the end of Danny and the Dinosaur isn't repeated, but there's a nice moment when Danny decides what he wants his birthday wish to be. What six-year-old wouldn't leap at the chance to have a live dinosaur participate in his birthday bash? Since it's the dinosaur's birthday, too (he's turning one hundred million years and one days old), they share a big pink-frosted cake and make their birthday wishes together. The party is mostly typical kid games, with the dino having to adjust because of his unusual physical dimensions. So when Danny comes to the museum to inquire if the dinosaur can attend his sixth birthday party, the sauropod readily accepts the invitation, picking up Danny's human friends on the way. There's no need for introductions between Danny and his old dinosaur pal they've known each other a long time. Whether you learned to read generations ago or you're a kid just learning to read on your own, there's fun to be had in Happy Birthday, Danny and the Dinosaur! Syd Hoff always provides a worthwhile reading experience. Much of Happy Birthday, Danny and the Dinosaur!'s charm derives from this nostalgia, the emotional resonance of watching Danny once again ride on his dinosaur's back after thirty-seven years (in our time, that is for Danny, almost no time has elapsed).
Nearly four decades passed between the release of Danny and the Dinosaur in 1958 and its first sequel, Happy Birthday, Danny and the Dinosaur!, so one can imagine the new story was nostalgic for kids of the 1950s who grew up loving the original.
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