We Don’t Eat Our Classmates

We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins, 2018.

Penelope is a young T-Rex who is nervous about her first day at school, wondering what her classmates will be like, if they will be her friends, and how many teeth they will have (a very important question, if you’re a dinosaur). For reasons that are never explained and, oddly, are not really important to the story, it turns out that Penelope will be attending a normal, human public school with only human classmates … and T-Rexes think that humans are tasty.

On her very first day at school, Penelope attempts to eat every child in her class, which does not endear her to her new classmates. The teacher, who doesn’t think that a young T-Rex wearing pink overalls is at all strange, just tells her to spit her classmates out. Naturally, the kids at school learn to fear Penelope, who has trouble resisting her urge to try to eat them at every opportunity. Penelope feels bad about it and lonely because her classmates do everything they can to avoid her. However, when she tries to make friends with Walter, the class goldfish, he teaches her what it really feels like to be treated like someone else’s snack.

My Reaction

This is one of those hilarious children’s books that parents as well as children can enjoy! On the surface, it’s a fun story about the ridiculous situation of a young dinosaur who, for some reason, has to go to school with human children, but there is also the message that it’s important to consider other people’s feelings because there are feelings that we all share. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. You can’t have your friends and eat them, too.

I think the story is actually a subtle message against bullying without ever actually using the word “bullying” in the story. Penelope is a “kid” with no impulse control who can’t resist doing what feels good in the moment when she’s around people who seem like “prey”, not considering the consequences to anyone, and that’s basically what child bullies do as well. Of course, human child bullies usually limit themselves to mean teasing rather than actually putting their targets into their mouths. In both cases, the targets naturally come to fear and avoid the one targeting them, and the bad behavior often doesn’t stop until the one doing it comes to fully understand what it’s like to be on the receiving end of what they’ve been doing to other people. Penelope comes to realize this, and it changes her for the better.

Walter doesn’t learn anything at all, but he is confined to a goldfish bowl and acts as a continual reminder to Penelope that she too can be eaten by someone, so I suppose it’s okay.

Penelope also thinks that ponies are delicious. Friendship is magical … and tasty?