WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE DINOSAURS?

by Bernard Most ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 12, 1984

Yes, a variant on Most's 1978 entry, If the Dinosaurs Came Back--and still pretty flat-footed. (""We love to visit the library and read all about the dinosaurs,"" the text begins.) The drawings are also stiff, heavy schematizations. But the notion, if unoriginal, is also unfailing--""Did all the dinosaurs go to another planet? . . . did a magician make all the dinosaurs disappear?""--and some of Most's examples are naturally funny (a hospital-patient dinosaur in traction), some lend themselves to imaginative illustration (underground dinosaurs poking their long necks out of manholes) and/or everyday make-believe (""Maybe the dinosaurs are wearing disguises and we just don't recognize them""). A few examples genuinely give pause: ""Were the dinosaurs mistaken for dragons?"" Was there not enough room on Noah's Ark? One, in particular, has a kind of wry poignance: mother and baby dinosaur, before a section of empty supermarket shelves--""Or was there a shortage of dinosaur food?"" A lot of different, likely notions, in short, and a lot of different dinosaurs in evidence--pictured for maximum visibility.

Pub Date: Sept. 12, 1984

ISBN: 0152952969

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1984

Categories: CHILDREN'S