The combination of dinosaurs and ballet seems an unlikely one, but Carrier and Hart carry it off with both style and heart. T-Rex is a bored, rather lonely dinosaur skeleton who has been on display in a museum for 99 years, with only her ancient memories and her museum guard for company. When she overhears two women discussing ballet and Swan Lake, she breaks out of the museum and heads for the opera house. She finds an extra-large tutu and then joins the ballet performance with uproarious results, scaring the musicians and knocking down dancers with her tail. The audience adores the new dancer, however, and T-Rex performs her own solo to wild acclaim before being escorted back to the museum by her proud guard. T-Rex and her guard relive her triumphant performance, and on the final page, she dreams of a return to the state in The Nutcracker. The offbeat story is full of action and humor, but it’s Demarest who brings T-Rex to life in his jewel-toned watercolors filled with dancers, musicians, ballet fans, and one super-sized skeleton dancing up a storm. (Picture book. 3-7)
