PEN PALS

In a second round of Mesozoic mischief, two prehistoric poets continue to hone their craft while trying to avoid being eaten by toothy critics.

Having established in the opener that being “Poetry Pals” is far better than being predator and prey, Coelophysis and Frog set off to see the world and learn to write about it. They start by alternating spontaneous rhyming lines, advance to two-word poems that they dub “Blue Poos,” and finish up with “sound poems” created with a chorus of hooting, honking Parasaurolophus. Along the way, a supposedly bad—but really funny—poem (“How does a T-Rex pick his nose? / Arms too short, so he uses his toes!”) leads to a frantic flight from its irate subject, while an Archeopteryx named Hope drops in and out of view to fuel bits of wordplay and a wistful concrete poem from smitten Coelophysis: “I hope / to see / Hope / soon / and / hopefully / Hope / hopes / what I / hope.” Like the poems, the illustrations seem both simple and unpolished at first and, OK, second glances. But the hand-lettered verses and the googly-eyed dinos, both of which Angleberger places on layered swatches of creased and deckle-edged paper for a 3-D look, carry more than enough vim to leave budding poets roaring to join this brand-new writer’s group in its collective closing “ALL RIGHT!!!! Let’s WRITE!!!”

More sly poetry prompts, embedded in a raucous romp.