Though the rhymes are rather weak, this book does encourage pretend play, the backmatter is enlightening, and the diversity...
On the tail of the Rappy the Raptor books, by Dan Gutman and illustrated by Tim Bowers (2015, etc.), comes this rapping, participatory look at the dinos that lived long ago.
“Come on everybody, shake a claw. / Let me hear you bellow. Let me hear you ROAR! / Let me see you jump and thump and tap. / Come and join in! Do the dinosaur rap!” This repeated refrain is illustrated with seven children who have cleverly dressed themselves to look like their favorite dinos. On subsequent pages, each child takes a turn introducing a dino and prompting readers to copy their actions: “There’s a Saltopus strutting, swaying to the beat, / Hopping and bopping and tapping his feet. / Tap your feet!” Other species include Shonisaurus, Apatosaurus, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Pteranodon, and Tyrannosaurus rex. The rhymes are nothing to write home about, but Harter’s artwork uses vivid colors and patterns that pop off the pages. Her cartoonish dinos may not seem particularly realistic, but they are easy for youngsters to match with their own clothing and props. Harter’s children are notably diverse in many ways: only two are white, one sports glasses, another uses hearing aids, and a third uses a frame walker. Backmatter includes a paragraph about each species, a timeline and info about the eras of the dinosaurs, and blurbs about what happened to the dinos and how paleontologists learn about them.
Though the rhymes are rather weak, this book does encourage pretend play, the backmatter is enlightening, and the diversity is refreshing. (Picture book. 2-6)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-78285-301-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A lively celebration of music and expressive dance.
The beat is all around her when a girl takes a walk in the park with her mother.
On a lovely summer day, a young African-American girl in a bright pink sundress and matching sneakers sees, smells, sings, claps and snaps her fingers to an internal rhythm. As a boom box plays its song and a drummer taps his beat, neighborhood children join her in an energetic, pulsating dance culminating in a rousing musical parade. Schofield-Morrison’s brief text has a shout-it-out element as each spread resounds with a two-word phrase: “I shook a rhythm with my hips. /SHAKE SHAKE”; “I tapped the rhythm with my toes. / TIP TAP.” Morrison’s full-bleed, textured oil paintings capture the joy of a mother and daughter in an urban park surrounded by musicians, food vendors and many exuberant children. Read this aloud with music playing loudly—not in the background. Morrison is a Coretta Scott King/New Talent Award winner, and this is a fine debut for his wife in their first collaboration.
A lively celebration of music and expressive dance. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 3, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61963-178-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
It’s a bit hard to dance, or count, to this beat.
Dinos that love to move and groove get children counting from one to 10—and perhaps moving to the beat.
Beginning with a solo bop by a female dino (she has eyelashes, doncha know), the dinosaur dance party begins. Each turn of the page adds another dino and a change in the dance genre: waltz, country line dancing, disco, limbo, square dancing, hip-hop, and swing. As the party would be incomplete without the moonwalk, the T. Rex does the honors…and once they are beyond their initial panic at his appearance, the onlookers cheer wildly. The repeated refrain on each spread allows for audience participation, though it doesn’t easily trip off the tongue: “They hear a swish. / What’s this? / One more? / One more dino on the floor.” Some of the prehistoric beasts are easily identifiable—pterodactyl, ankylosaurus, triceratops—but others will be known only to the dino-obsessed; none are identified, other than T-Rex. Packed spreads filled with psychedelically colored dinos sporting blocks of color, stripes, or polka dots (and infectious looks of joy) make identification even more difficult, to say nothing of counting them. Indeed, this fails as a counting primer: there are extra animals (and sometimes a grumpy T-Rex) in the backgrounds, and the next dino to join the party pokes its head into the frame on the page before. Besides all that, most kids won’t get the dance references.
It’s a bit hard to dance, or count, to this beat. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8075-1598-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
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