The Dinosaur Who Lost Her Voice is a debut picture book by Julie Ballard, who was inspired to write this story after her son experienced a severe speech disorder. Along with Julie Ballard’s upbeat text Francesca Gambatesa’s illustrations make this an engaging colourful read. I’ve previously reviewed When I’m A Mummy Like You which Francesca also illustrated.
The Dinosaur Who Lost Her Voice is a fun rhyming read aloud with a beautiful message at the centre of it. Recommended for readers 3 year olds and up this would make a fantastic book to share for many a bookshelf and a super read aloud in a learning setting.
Dinosaur Milly Jo is a dinosaur with a beautiful gift, she can sing. Her ability to sing makes her dinosaur friends smile with glee and they adore listening to her magical voice. One day a storm hits and readers discover that Milly Jo is involved in an accident. This accident leads everything to change for Milly Jo. Her once beautiful voice is no more and not only does she experience many emotions as a result of it, her friends do too.
At this point in the story readers are perhaps left to ponder as what could happen. Is Milly Jo’s voice permanently going to stay like that? Well sadly, Milly Jo’s voice isn’t going to get better. Her friends do their best to cheer her up and sing to her but they are rather out of tune, giving Milly Jo an idea.
The story progresses positively sharing Milly Jo’s kindness and enthusiasm for music. She begins to teach her friends how to sing, sharing music books and teaching them more about music and how to sing in tune. Even though she’s unable to sing anymore this doesn’t stop her from helping others.
Milly Jo is a wonderful main character who has lovely supportive friends around her. She shares beautiful attributes with her readers and her ability to be kind even though she is experiencing sadness is a wonderful element of the story.
As the newly form choir do a great job in their first show Milly Jo knows that “…things would be all right.” With the help of her friends Milly finds a new way to shine. A beautiful, uplifting story.
Disclaimer: I received this book from the publishers in exchange for an honest review. All words and opinions are entirely my own. This post contains affiliate links.
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