Young fans of all things big and noisy will make trax for this dynamic dino-diversion.
The prehistoric metal monsters dug up and introduced in Dinotrux! (2009) break out—twice!—in this smashing (crashing, roaring, grinding) sequel.
Exploding through the dino-museum’s wall in the wake of a particularly stressful Kindergarten Day, enraged Tyrannosaurus Trux rolls off to climb a skyscraper. Meanwhile, hungry Garbageadon chows down on local traffic, a pair of Velocitractors plow up Main Street and Cementosaurus dumps a heaping “present” in the town square. Enough! declares the mayor, firmly dispatching the miscreant mega vehicles to school to learn better behavior. Further chaos threatens when they burst out again, though, taking along the children who have introduced them to the wonders of (truck) books and other reading. Towering massively atop heavy-duty tires, with wide, headlight eyes and toothy maws agape, Gall’s brawny beasts make modern construction vehicles look like jumped-up SmartCars. But even the most brutish dinotrux can find a place in today’s world, as the final playground scene suggests.
Young fans of all things big and noisy will make trax for this dynamic dino-diversion. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-316-13288-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2012
Awesome Man zooms about in his stylin’ costume, decapitating a giant killer robot with the positronic rays that shoot out of...
Chabon snags his youngest audience yet with this first-person profile of a superhero who battles both bad guys and anger issues.
Awesome Man zooms about in his stylin’ costume, decapitating a giant killer robot with the positronic rays that shoot out of his eyes here, schooling Professor Von Evil’s Antimatter Slimebot (“Antimatter slime is extra gross”) there. In between, he stops both a disaster-bound train and mutant talking Jell-O from Beyond the Stars with his Awesome Power Grip. But when arch-nemesis Flaming Eyeball gets away, Awesome Man needs a timeout (plus a snack delivered by costumed sidekick Moskowitz the Awesome Dog) to cool off before heading out again to “kick a little bad-guy behind.” Awesome indeed is masked Awesome Man in Parker’s melodramatic illustrations, cutting a heroic figure as he poses with granite-jawed nobility between bouts with one oversized and luridly menacing foe after another. A.M.’s secret identity remains unrevealed until his closing return to the suburban Fortress of Awesome, but sharper readers may pick it up early from several ingenious verbal and visual clues.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-191462-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Another slyly disquieting outing from the creators of Who’s in the Bathroom? (2007). (Picture book. 6-8)
Willis and Reynolds deliver a sharp tweak to the credulous, as just the rumor of a monster sighting prompts a mass migration of rubberneckers.
“One foggy, groggy morning / by the salty, splashy sea,” reports a moon-faced lad, “I’m sure I saw a dinosaur / and I’m sure that he saw me.” Word gets around fast, and in no time not just local residents but soldiers, sailors, scientists, divers and more have set up camps on the beach. They all bear expressions of open-mouthed wonder, and they search industriously for the elusive creature. Sharp-eyed viewers can join the search, as nearly every one of Reynolds’ full-spread, comical cartoon scenes features an unobtrusive glimpse of a green tail or part of a humped back with jagged ridges. In the end, it all turns out to be a marketing ploy, foisted by the young narrator (who is last seen dressed in a dino costume and grinning mischievously) on an unsuspecting public to drum up business for his dad’s ice-cream stand during the cold season. Just an innocent trick, ho ho.
Another slyly disquieting outing from the creators of Who’s in the Bathroom? (2007). (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7613-8093-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Andersen Press USA
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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