TYRANNOSAURUS WAS A BEAST

by Jack Prelutsky ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 15, 1988

Fourteen grand dinosaurs, rendered comic by Prelutsky's fib-tickling doggerel and endearingly ferocious by Lobel's portraits. Like Will Cuppy, Prelutsky bases his humor on true facts in amusing juxtapositions, but Prelutsky's is much augmented by his inspired solutions to the problems posed by the verse form (""Leptopterygius, big as a city bus,/was an insatiable ichthyosaur,/anything captured by Leptopterygius/never was seen in the sea anymore""). The verse, incidentally, provides fine reinforcement for the pronunciations provided (the foregoing was ""lep-toe-ter-IDGE-ee-us"") while dramatizing the characteristics for which the dinosaurs were named. Memorable use of onomatopoeia (ponderous ""Diplodocus plodded along long ago"") and wry observations where less familiar words are made clear by the context (""Brachiosaurus was truly immense,/its vacuous mind was uncluttered by sense"") add to the fun. Lobel's dinosaurs are just fight: fierce, funny, and so big that each invades its neatly ruled boundary--accurate enough for the purpose but also a satisfyingly ""wild thing."" A winner on every count.

Pub Date: Aug. 15, 1988

ISBN: 0688115691

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Greenwillow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1988

Categories: CHILDREN'S