Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones

Written by: Judy Schachner

First line: Skippyjon Jones was crazy about digging in Mrs. Doohiggy’s garden.

Why you should read this book: Kids are crazy about the Skippyjon Jones franchise and its revelations regarding the titular melon-headed Siamese cat with the enormous imagination to match, and his increasingly bizarre delusion regarding his secret identity as a Chihuahua. In this edition, Skippyjon walks the razor’s edge, stealing bones from Darwin the dozing bulldog two doors down and using them to reconstruct a dinosaur skeleton to stimulate the imagination of his paleontologist alter-ego. He then travels back to the Jurassic era to confront real imaginary dinosaurs before his final confrontation with Darwin.

Why you shouldn’t read this book: While kids adore the drawing, the rhythm, the songs, and the nonsense, this book, located in the imagination of a kitten, doesn’t really make a heck of a lot of sense.