THE LAST SURVIVING DINOSAUR

A short lesson in Yiddish introduces tsuris (big problems) and kvetching (complaining) to a young, dinosaur-loving audience in this humorous debut from author Joseph and illustrator Case (Puppy Drama, 2016, etc.).

In Joseph’s first-person narration, he explains how, in his Bronx neighborhood, his relatives competed over who had the worst tsuris. Joseph used that lifelong “tsuris training” to develop a tale for his daughter. According to Joseph, when all the other dinosaurs went extinct, the smallest, most dangerous dinosaur survived: the TyrantoCrankaTsuris. When she got sick of how the other dinosaurs bragged about their strength, she let out a wail of complaints that sent the other dinosaurs packing. Her complaints even made the whole planet go dark! Luckily, one other dinosaur, the TyrantoKvetchaTsuris, survived as well, and the pair became the ancestors of humanity. Joseph uses the tall tale to explain that humans should never get too cranky or complain too loudly or they might cause yet another creature’s extinction. Fictional science aside, the delivery and repetition of the real kvetching from Joseph’s family in the TyrantoKvetchaTsuris’ litany of complaints will be laugh-out-loud funny for adults, who may have to translate it for their kids. Case’s cartoonish caricatures and silly saurians, all set against simple backgrounds, capture the comical tone.

Kids may not always get the humor, but the multigenerational aspects make this a good choice for reading aloud.