Paleontologist Brown presents developing readers with a vividly imagined recreation of an asteroid impact and its immediate and subsequent effects on the dinosaurs. She sets up her scenario with an introductory, “It may have happened like this . . . ” and follows with action-filled narration that finds a T. rex peacefully chowing down on an Edmontosaurus while behind him a “strange new light” appears in the sky. After immediately incinerating the giant carnivore, the asteroid’s wave of destruction moves outward, mowing down Triceratops and Alamosaurus with equal abandon. Although they are not killed in the initial impact, a herd of Parasaurolophuses, who hide in caves in the far north, slowly starve to death upon reemerging into a blasted world. Clearly, there’s more than enough violence and destruction to delight the most jaded eight-year-old, all related in the simple and forthright vocabulary and syntax of an I Can Read! entry. Wilson’s illustrations add stripes and other splashes of color to the dinosaurs’ hides, as well as expressions of alarm to their faces, the scenes of destruction appropriately garish and full of motion. Sure to find its audience. (author’s note, pronunciation guide) (Easy reader/nonfiction. 6-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-000528-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Tried and true, both in content and formula.
Parting—of the temporary rather than permanent kind—is the latest topic to be dino-sorted in this venerable series’ 14th outing.
Nobody dies and the series is showing no signs of flagging, so reading anything ominous into the title is overthinking it. Instead, Teague and Yolen once again treat readers to a succession of outsized, gaily patterned dinosaurs throwing tantrums or acting out, this time as dad packs up for a business trip or even just sets off to work, grandparents pause at the door for goodbyes, mom drops her offspring off at school on a first day, parents take a date night, or a moving van pulls up to the house. Per series formula, the tone switches partway through when bad behavior gives way to (suggested) better: “They tell all the grown-ups / just how they are feeling. / It helps right away / for fast dinosaur healing.” Hugs, kisses, and a paper heart might also be more constructive responses than weeping, clinging, and making mayhem. Dinosaurian pronouns mostly alternate between he and she until switching to the generic their in the last part. In the art, the human cast mixes figures with different racial presentations and the date-night parents are an interracial couple, but there is no evident sign of same-gender or other nonnormative domestic situations.
Tried and true, both in content and formula. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 28, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-36335-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
Setting story aside, the primary duty of Bluebonnet, an armadillo, is to aid and abet the public relations efforts of the Texas tourism industry. The only issue that could be construed as a character-driven conflict in this title is that Bluebonnet has missed Marshall’s Fire Ant Festival. Her real purpose, however, is to visit the Marshall train depot. Even when a fence bars her from entering that duly-described edifice, the fetching armadillo’s problem melts away under the benign gaze of T.P., a cat whose name stands for the Texas & Pacific. The two become ever-smilin’ buddies as T.P. tells Bluebonnet all manner of things of interest mostly to Texans and tourists. Texas schoolchildren helped mount a campaign to save the depot from demolition, readers learn, although they don’t learn why. Vincent’s illustrations offer a sense of the depot’s early-1900s bustle, however, and his critters are cute as can be. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1999
ISBN: 1-56554-311-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Pelican
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
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