I’m possibly (okay, probably) a little sensitive, but I have a beef with my son’s new purchase from the school’s Scholastic book fair: How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You?

Here’s my issue, put in numerical terms.

Illustrations of mothers holding brooms or mops: 2
Illustrations of fathers cleaning: 0
Illustrations of fathers working at computers: 1
Illustrations of mothers working in non-childcare ways: 0
Illustrations of mothers in frumpy clothes: 9
Illustrations of fathers wearing suits and/or ties: 5

Even when Dad runs into the bathroom (in his suit) to make his dinosaur stop overflowing the sink, Mom apparently arrives to help little dino with the mop. (And that doesn’t count in the brooms and mops calculation, above.)

I’m guessing the above choices were made more subconsciously than consciously. And I will give the illustrator credit for one picture of a dad grocery shopping (in his suit) and one of a dad at the playground. Which edges him out of the Dark Ages and into the early Renaissance.

Scholastic, this book gives double meaning to “dinosaur.” Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go put on some sweatpants and mop the kitchen.