by Timothy Knapman ; illustrated by Nikki Dyson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 8, 2016
No, dinos don’t have to do the same things that little boys do, including have any manners.
A little boy intent on his dinosaur persona insists that dinosaurs don’t do the things his mother wants him to do.
Dinnertime? Not for dinos! “They eat whenever they like,” according to Mo. The verso shows the two white redheads at the table, his mother sitting nicely and the little boy turned away from the table in his chair and messily using his hands to eat spaghetti and meatballs, green dinosaur-foot slippers on his feet. The recto shows the boy’s vivid imagination at work: a green dino with bare, very similar feet and with a red-striped belly to match the boy’s shirt crunches something unidentifiable in the midst of a jungle. This pattern continues throughout as the duo cleans up, takes a bath, dries off, puts on pajamas, plays, has a glass of milk, and heads to bed. While readers may be caught up in this boy’s admirable ability to pretend, adults will be wondering about this mom’s spine: Mo’s naughty antics get no more than a sigh, whether it’s crayon drawings on the wall or milk bubbles that cascade over the table. In spite of the boy’s poor behavior, no one will have any doubt of this mother’s love as she tucks him tenderly in, the bright, busy digital illustrations speaking volumes.
No, dinos don’t have to do the same things that little boys do, including have any manners. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-8927-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2016
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by Kelly Starling Lyons ; illustrated by Luke Flowers ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2016
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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by Lindsay Ward ; illustrated by Lindsay Ward ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 2018
Lost and found was never so riotously funny or emotionally draining.
A lost toy goes through an existential crisis.
The setup is on the copyright page. Amid the markers of a universally recognizable waiting room—fish tank, chairs against the wall, receptionist’s window, kids’ coloring table—is a tiny orange T. Rex with a dialogue balloon: “Hello?” A turn of the page brings Dexter T. Rexter into close view, and he explains his dilemma directly to readers. He and his best friend came for a checkup, but Jack’s disappeared. Maybe readers can help? But when Jack is still MIA, Dexter becomes disconsolate, believing his friend might have left him behind on purpose; maybe he likes another toy better? Dexter weighs his good qualities against those he lacks, and he comes up short. But when readers protest (indicated by a change in Dexter’s tone after the turn of the page), Dexter gains the determination he needs to make a plan. Unfortunately, though hilariously, his escape plan fails. But luckily, a just-as-upset black boy comes looking for Dexter, and the two are reunited. Ward’s ink, colored-pencil, and cut-paper illustrations give readers a toy’s view of the world and allow children to stomp in Dexter’s feet for a while, his facial expressions giving them lots of clues to his feelings. Readers will be reminded of both Knuffle Bunny and Scaredy Squirrel, but Dexter is a character all his own.
Lost and found was never so riotously funny or emotionally draining. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5420-4727-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2017
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