One more addition to the thundering herd, easier on the eye than many and as suitable for reading aloud as alone.
Dinos rendered as cut-paper collages in bright, mostly primary colors pose next to basic facts about each in this gallery for younger devotees.
Set up as a guessing game, each entry opens with a spread-sized body part—“What dinosaur had jaws [head, neck, tail, etc.] like this?”—that gives way with a page turn to a full-body view. Along with identifications (“A Tyrannosaurus!”), Roderick supplies three to six simply written sentences of descriptive information for each. The long-clawed plant eater Therizinosaurus and crested Parasaurolophus join the main roster of usual suspects, as does a flying Pteranodon with the proper note that it was not a true dinosaur but a “cousin.” Seven other dinosaurs come in for cameos on a closing spread. The digitally assembled visuals reflect the narrative text’s simplicity; the dinosaurs, ranging in color from vivid scarlet to clear, pale blue, are made from just a few jaggedly cut pieces and sport the same wide, free-cut round eyes. Moriya adds knobbly textures and subtle brush strokes to the surfaces and places the figures in minimally detailed settings composed of mixed photos and cut paper.
One more addition to the thundering herd, easier on the eye than many and as suitable for reading aloud as alone. (Informational picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: March 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-77138-044-7
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Along with the pleasure of pronouncing those multisyllabic dino names, young audiences may find food for thought in the...
Primary socialization and cooperation in action—with dinosaurs, and no grown-ups in sight.
Whether at the art table, doing work at the board or using blocks—“Stegosaurus stacks. / Triceratops erects. / Gallimimus builds it up”—the result is the same: “TYRANNOSAURUS… // WRECKS!” But not only does a room full of angry faces cause a change of heart in the hyperactive theropod, when his efforts to repair the damage founder on his own clumsiness, his classmates pitch in. They don’t do the cleanup themselves, but they work to enable his success. That doesn’t spell an end to disasters, as bulky Apatosaurus doesn’t see contrite T. Rex carefully balancing a tray of juice cups and snacks…but at least this time it’s not his fault. OHora adds digital color to simply drawn classroom scenes in ways that produce a flat, screen-printed look, depicting the dinos in human clothing but with recognizable attributes (they’re also identified on the endpapers). Just for fun he also slips in a view of Styracosaurus practicing his “C”s by repeatedly writing “Climate Change” and a few other visual gags.
Along with the pleasure of pronouncing those multisyllabic dino names, young audiences may find food for thought in the behavioral dynamics on display. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4197-1035-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2014
A strong new series for brand-new readers.
Dotlich’s text makes good use of assonance and internal rhymes to support new readers’ decoding skills in this story about a dinosaur who needs to clean up his bedroom before he can go outside to play ball.
Momasaur is displeased with the state of Digger’s room, and when he asks if he can go play ball with his friend, Stego, she replies sternly, “No….Your room is a mess.” Digger mistakes the word “mess” for “yes,” but Stego corrects him, and in a spirit of friendly generosity, offers to help him clean up. Digger continues to fail to attend carefully to others’ words as he confuses Stego’s helpful directions, mishearing “hook” as “book” and “bones” as “stones.” Then Stego becomes distracted and mistakes Momasaur’s final direction to put “hats” away as putting “cats” away. Digger catches the mistake as the poor cats meow from within an armoire, and then they quickly free them and tidy up the hats before going outside to play ball. Cartoonish illustrations seem like they’d be right at home in an animator’s studio, though background detail is a bit overdone and potentially distracting in a book with such a well-controlled text.
A strong new series for brand-new readers. (Early reader. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-222222-0
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 11, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2013
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