MAMASAURUS

A small dinosaur needs help from other dino babies when he slides off his mother’s back and can’t find her again.

Babysaurus likes to stand on his mother’s back so he can reach the tender leaves, but Mamasaurus’ curving back and tail make the perfect accidental slide. “Wheeeeeee!” As Babysaurus wanders the jungle searching for his mama, he meets other dinos. “Have you seen my mama?” Each new acquaintance asks if Babysaurus’ mama does something like his or her own: does she run as fast as Ornito’s mama? Have a horn like Tritopa’s mom? Fly like Ptero’s mom? Is she small like Hespero’s or toothy like Rexy’s? Babysaurus answers each of these questions in the negative, but he does provide some details about his mama: she takes big steps, has a long neck, and is taller than the trees. Just when things look bleak for Babysaurus against Rexy’s toothy mom, Mamasaurus finds her little one, who proclaims, “You are the best Mamasaurus in the whole jungle!” Lomp’s brush pen and Photoshop illustrations show rather static faces on the dinos, though their brilliant colors stand out against the black pages and greenish-gray foliage, drawing readers’ eyes.

Like P.D. Eastman’s 1960 classic Are You My Mother? for the dino set, though it lacks the facts (and even the dinosaur names!) presented elsewhere, as in Shari Halpern’s Dinosaur Parade (2014).