BIGGER THAN YOU

Dinosaurs on the playground (and readers who might wish to join them) get schooled both in physics and in the pleasures of noncompetitive play.

Taking alternate ends of a log balanced on a round rock, a succession of ever larger dinos asserts supremacy over the playmate on the opposite end, smugly crowing “I’m bigger than you.” But the tantrum a bright red T. Rex throws after being outweighed by a brachiosaur brings a change of perspective in the form of a much-larger T. Rex: “And I’m your mother!” With parental help, the log is pushed so that only one end is elevated, thus converting it to a slide that puts all of the dinosaurs on the same footing. Using brushwork that evokes traditional East Asian ink drawings (according to the production note she uses Korean paper and paints), Kyung creates minimally detailed prehistoric scenes featuring a cast of slightly anthropomorphic but recognizable dinosaurs. They are all identified, along with size gradations ranging from “Big” through “Massive” and “Immense” to “Biggest,” in a closing gallery, which is followed by diagrams that explain, with a dollop of wry humor, the differences between a seesaw (“lever”) and a slide (“inclined plane”).

A whimsical lesson in Mesozoic good manners, with an added treat for young STEM-winders.