The little dinosaur follows Lila home from the Museum of Natural History, where Lila had been explaining to her father all about the different dinosaurs. She tells him to wait for her in the museum, but the incorrigible creature sneaks out anyway. Lila rescues him from the street, brings him to her house, feeds him, and puts him to bed. In the morning, however, the dinosaur is gone, and Lila thinks she dreamt the whole thing. She sadly gets ready for school, only somewhat soothed when her parents offer to buy her a dog or a cat. Then her father drops her off at school, and as he pulls away in the car, who should she see in the back seat but her colorful friend? Who needs a pet dog, thinks Lila, when you have a pet dinosaur? This easy reader has all the qualities necessary for success: a clever little heroine, dinosaur lore, and an adorable rainbow-colored baby dinosaur that only children can see. And it doesn't lose anything in the translation. (Fiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1994
ISBN: 1-55858-310-6
Page Count: 60
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1994
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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When your computer powers down, the little “dot” is off-duty. You don’t think it just sits there, do you?
In this tipsy flight from Steadman, originally published overseas in 2000, the tidy dot on the first page is quickly transformed into mad splotches of black sporting googly eyes. It zooms through cyberspace to have tea—or, rather ink (“I LOVE INK!”)—with “my friend the Duchess of Amalfi,” and then goes off to spatter the besieging Duke of Bogshott and his white-uniformed army. Serving largely as an excuse for the illustrator to wield pen and brush ever more ferociously across a series of spreads, this free-associative plotline culminates with an invitation to attend the wedding of the duke and duchess as “Best Dot” (“I was so excited I made a mess on her carpet”) and a quick return home: “And here I am, ready to work for you again—dot dot dot.” As a clever riff on the internet, this doesn’t hold a pixel to Randi Zuckerberg and Joel Berger’s Dot. (2013) or Goodnight iPad by “Ann Droid” (2011), and the illustrator’s whacked-out mite isn’t going to take young readers on the sort of imagination-stretching artistic rides that Peter Reynolds’ The Dot (2003) or Hervé Tullet’s Press Here (2011) offer. But it does at least dispense exuberantly unrestrained permission to paint outside the lines.
The artist’s fans might key in, but most young readers will be left in the dark. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-56792-520-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Godine
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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Mary's heart pounds when the second-grade teacher in her new school says, ``I want each one of you to stand up, say your name, and tell us one thing about yourself.'' As Mary fears, someone giggles at her stuttered statement. It's Marvin, whose subsequent mocking continues to aggravate her problem. Still, some of the girls readily invite her to join them, and when Marvin steals their rubber-band jump rope they jail him in a garbage can, where he sticks. A discussion with her mother reveals that stuttering is an old family characteristic; with her encouragement, Mary agrees to work with a speech therapist, whom she likes immediately. When a garter snake that Marvin's father has brought in to school escapes, Marvin stands by terrified while Mary catches it and becomes the class hero. Ex-elementary-teacher Kline gives an entertaining glimpse of the challenges and successes of school life while offering a positive, sympathetic look at a common problem. A chapter book that transitional readers will enjoy. Illustrations not seen. (Fiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: March 25, 1992
ISBN: 0-399-22044-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1992
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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