Oh Say Can You Say Di-no-saur? is the third book in The Cat in the Hat's Learning Library series. It was published in April 1999 by Bonnie Worth and illustrated by Steve Haefele. The book follows The Cat in the Hat as he educates Sally and Conrad Walden along with the reader on the history of dinosaurs and introduces a variety of different dinosaurs.
Plot[]
The book begins outside the house of Sally and Conrad, where The Cat in the Hat is on the back of a Brachiosaurus with Thing One and Thing Two and a distressed looking Carlos K. Krinklebine. Here, The Cat in the Hat introduces the topic of dinosaurs. After this, The Cat in the Hat, Sally, and Conrad are pictured to be inside of a hot air balloon above a desert full of fossils, from which one of the Things is hanging on by a fishing pole. This is where The Cat in the Hat explains what fossils are and their age. Then, The Cat in the Hat is holding a pickaxe and a dinosaur tooth while Sally and Conrad are making molds of fossils and Thing One and Thing Two are observing a map. They are all wearing brown archaeologist hats. Here, The Cat in the Hat explains the archaeologist's job of digging up fossils.
On the next page, The Cat in the Hat and Thing One and Thing Two are assembling a skeleton with fossils of a dinosaur, while Sally and Conrad observe an image of a Brachiosaurus. Here, The Cat in the Hat explains how fossils are then shipped to laboratories to see how they fit together. After this, everyone is outside of what is introduced to be a museum, where The Cat in the Hat explains that these are where dinosaurs are displayed. The next page depicts everyone inside the museum looking up at off-page dinosaurs.
The first dinosaur that is introduced is an Ankylosaurus. On this page, Sally and Conrad are inside of a giant toy army tank while Thing One and Thing Two pretend to be a bull and a bull tamer. Next is the Maiasaura, whose page depicts The Cat in the Hat watching a mother Maiasaura feed her recently hatched children from a nearby bush. After this the Tyrannosaurus Rex is shown, looking menacingly down at a frightened Thing One and Thing Two, Sally, and Conrad. The next page shows The Cat in the Hat pointing at the T-Rex chasing after the Ankylosaurus, while Sally and Conrad run away and Thing One and Thing Two fly by in a plane, looking afraid.
The Triceratops is introduced next, where The Cat in the Hat has his hands pointed up by his ears to mimic horns. The T-Rex can be seen running off in the background. After this comes the Apatosaurus, which in this illustration is eating from a tree that The Cat in the Hat, Sally, and Conrad are climbing with a ladder and from which one of the Things is hanging from a trapeze. Up next, the Brachiosaurus is introduced. In this illustration, The Cat in the Hat stands by the leg of the Brachiosaurus while Sally and Conrad are face to face with the dinosaur via a tall balcony. Thing Two is holding sticks that have long expanding arms on the end to show how large the dinosaur is. A person in a graduate uniform explains that the Brachiosaurus's brain is the size of a zucchini.
The Iguanodon is introduced next, illustrated to be fighting a Deinonychus, which is shown on the next page. The next description is of an Archaeopteryx, which is shown to be flying while The Cat in the Hat, Sally, and Conrad watch from a distance with a three-person telescope. The next page shows the same Archaeopteryx trying to pull an angry worm from the ground with its beak while the three watch from on top of a tree.
The next page shows The Cat in the Hat showing Sally and Conrad out of the museum saying it is getting late, and promising a surprise before they leave. The final illustration is the three looking in awe at a giant Catinthehatosaurus.
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