A great choice to highlight diverse friendships and believing in yourself—with a fun touch of dinosaurs.
The girl with impossible curls and dinosaurs that hide in them returns in this sequel from team Rose-Vallee and Matsick (Dinosaurs Living in MY HAIR!, 2015) about finding similarities among friends—and being brave when bullies are mean.
Sabrina, now in first grade, still has those uncontrollable curls; three dinosaurs have taken up residence near her bow. Classmates mock the curls of blonde Sabrina and four of her friends: Faye, Gage, Espuardo, and Chanelle. When dinosaurs fall out of Sabrina’s hair at recess, she’s worried her friends will judge, but it turns out they all have dinos of their own. Matsick’s watercolor illustrations of this group of friends are a delightful celebration of diversity. The hair in the group includes red, brown, and black, and the skin tones vary just as much; the children are as distinct as their dinosaurs, and the riot of colors is as vibrant as the kids’ imaginations. When the dinos save Sabrina from a mean bully’s pranks, she and her friends learn a powerful lesson about how to deal with bullies: “You might think that the dinosaurs / were key to our success, / but friends and self-acceptance are / the answer I profess.” Rose-Vallee’s rhyming text flows in perfect rhythm and rhyme, and her vocabulary choices are unique enough to offer a comfortable challenge for Sabrina’s fellow first-grade readers.
A great choice to highlight diverse friendships and believing in yourself—with a fun touch of dinosaurs.Pub Date: March 20, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9861922-1-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Rosevallee Creations LLC
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
This will have readers putting on their dancing shoes to do the “cha cha cha” with their dino-babies
It's not the first time dinosaurs have been featured in a clever Boynton board book. It seems she—and we—can't get enough.
As her fans know, Boynton has a sly wit that respects the intelligence of her young fans and amuses the adults asked to “read it again.” In this book she introduces nine dinosaurs, each of which dances in a way that seems totally appropriate for that particular species. “The blue Stegosaurus goes SHIMMY SHIMMY SHAKE. / The red Brontosaurus goes QUIVERY QUAKE.” Drawing on her experience as a children’s musician, she writes a text that trips along like a song with rhymes that make sense but don't intrude. The illustrations, typical Boynton, reflect her greeting-card background. They are cartoonish but manage to capture the unique personality of each creature. The unnamed dinosaur narrator looks genuinely distraught at not being able to name the “tiny little dino” that “goes DEEDLY DEE.” Spoiler alert: the tiny little dinosaur is probably Compsognathus and would be about the size of a small chicken. Young dinophiles would be impressed if the dinosaurologists in their lives could supply that factoid, but alas, they will have to look it up.
This will have readers putting on their dancing shoes to do the “cha cha cha” with their dino-babies . (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-8099-4
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Count on construction die-hards falling in love, but discerning readers would be wise to look elsewhere for their...
Less ambitious than Chris Gall’s widely known Dinotrux (2009) and sequels, this British import systematically relegates each dinosaur/construction-equipment hybrid to its most logical job.
The title figures are introduced as bigger than both diggers and dinosaurs, and rhyming text and two construction-helmeted kids show just what these creatures are capable of. Each diggersaur has a specific job to do and a distinct sound effect. The dozersaurus moves rocks with a “SCRAAAAPE!!!” while the rollersaurus flattens lumps with a cheery “TOOT TOOT!!” Each diggersaur is numbered, with 12 in all, allowing this to be a counting book on the sly. As the diggersaurs (not all of which dig) perform jobs that regular construction equipment can do, albeit on a larger scale, there is no particular reason why any of them should have dinosaurlike looks other than just ’cause. Peppy computer art tries valiantly to attract attention away from the singularly unoriginal text. “Diggersaurs dig with bites so BIG, / each SCOOP creates a crater. // They’re TOUGH and STRONG / with necks so long— / they’re super EXCAVATORS!” Far more interesting are the two human characters, a white girl and a black boy, that flit about the pictures offering commentary and action. Much of the fun of the book can be found in trying to spot them on every two-page spread.
Count on construction die-hards falling in love, but discerning readers would be wise to look elsewhere for their dino/construction kicks. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-9848-4779-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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