This may be slight, but it’s also tasty fun that goes down easily and is sure to provoke demands for seconds (and thirds...
More of a snack than a full-course meal, this brief, briskly-paced adventure will nonetheless capture the attention of the very youngest dinosaur fans—and give the adults reading aloud a good giggle too.
Cartoon-style illustrations of three kinds of dinosaurs and a dragonflylike insect gallop, dart and swoop in a primitive portrait of a basic food chain that quickly pivots to become a prehistoric take on the old lady who swallowed a fly. A great, green T. Rex looks forward to gobbling a smaller, purple-plated dinosaur. Meanwhile the purple-plated dinosaur plans to snack on a little blue guy who’s busy chasing that big bug. Simple sentences and single-word captions propel the action through crunching and munching to the abrupt, explosive but ultimately happy ending (which will undoubtedly seem especially hilarious to preschoolers schooled in polite behavior). Broad humor may distract readers from the cleverness of the text, which features amusing internal rhymes and parallel sentences that punch up the joke. Variations in font mirror the differences between the characters, heavy black outlines make the creatures pop against brightly colored pages, and the simply drawn eyes and mouths are remarkably expressive.
This may be slight, but it’s also tasty fun that goes down easily and is sure to provoke demands for seconds (and thirds and…). (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 5, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-907967-50-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Boxer Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In the crowded field of dinosaur-themed children’s books, this one does not shine.
Do you want to celebrate your birthday with dinosaurs?
“Dinosaurs are BIG and strong. / They’re clumsy and they’re FARTY,” we’re told. “So do you really want them coming / to your birthday party?” A birthday banner drapes across the gutter, while full-bleed art depicts a diverse group of partygoers surrounded by dinos and looking perturbed (one child is holding their nose). The party appears to be thrown by a pair of adults for their child (all are brown-skinned). Spread after spread features overly busy art and more verse about why dinosaurs make poor party guests. A dinosaur at a pool party would jump in and displace all the water. Brontosaurus would love playing hide-and-seek—but likely wouldn’t be very good at it. Dinosaurs would gobble up all the food and, in their haste, accidentally trample all the birthday gifts. But, the narrator points out, dinosaurs are well intentioned, and soon we see examples of prehistoric pals working to make the celebration a smashing success—a group of kids use a dinosaur belly as a trampoline, and a velociraptor joins in for a fun game of tag. Though some dino fans may enjoy this one, it doesn’t rise to the top. The art is garish, and the verse often scans awkwardly. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
In the crowded field of dinosaur-themed children’s books, this one does not shine. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 20, 2023
ISBN: 9781400242054
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A kissing cousin to Bob Shea’s Dinosaur vs.… series.
Chomping and stomping come naturally to an exuberant dinosaur hatchling. Kissing? That takes practice.
Emerging from her egg at a run, Dinah STOMPS her fat legs and CHOMPS weeds with her sharp teeth. Kissing, though, turns out to be a challenge. After sending one hapless victim flying with a head butt and another inadvertently down the hatch (“Whoops,” she says. “Not good”), she returns to the hatchery…just in time to welcome a new sib with kisses—the sort that involve chomping, stomping and delighted head butts (“WHOMP!”). Drawn in thick outlines with a huge grin, wide eyes and a mottled yellow hide, Dinah stumps her way through minimally detailed prehistoric landscapes populated with anxious-looking smaller creatures. Children who groove on wimpy little butterfly kisses had best look elsewhere.
A kissing cousin to Bob Shea’s Dinosaur vs.… series. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6104-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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