LITTLE DINOSAURS, BIG QUESTIONS

Dr. Diplo deals with dinosaur dilemmas.

Not infrequently, life throws us puzzles too tricky for an easy answer. Dr. Diplo (an aptly named Diplodocus) has spent years thinking about tough issues, and now gives us some help in thinking through and sorting out 10 of them. A succession of mildly troubled young dinos pepper the good doctor with questions. What’s the difference between fairness and equity? Why do bad things happen, and what can we do about them? Haddow addresses privilege, how to respond to deliberate meanness with forgiveness, and ways to identify actions characteristic of a good friend. Can we lie to avoid hurting someone’s feelings? How can we be kind to nature? What’s good about being different from others? Why must we follow rules? What is grief like, and how can we deal with it? Haddow considers all these questions without being prescriptive. A note reassures non-psychologist caregivers that they, too, can help their children with “big questions.” Lee’s line-and-color vignette illustrations are naïve in style, with partly human-clothed reptiles in mostly flat-background scenes; a few references to prehistoric life (including many ferns) are mixed in with modern settings. Readers will find it easy to identify with these little reptiles as they struggle.

Sensible, small-scale moral philosophy, bound to smooth rocky paths.