A DINOSAUR CALLED TINY

In this readable but ultimately forgettable story, a diminutive lime-green dinosaur follows in the literary footsteps of many other small but mighty characters who aid someone larger or more powerful. The tiny dinosaur, cleverly called Tiny, is cruelly taunted by the larger dinosaurs because of his size, so he finds a new friend, a bird named Archie. The pair of friends devise their own games and entertainments, happily spending time together. When Tyro the T. rex stomps so hard he cracks the (evidently fragile) ground, Tiny and Archie lead him to safety. The logistics of this rescue are hard to see in the illustrations because the cracks in the surface are rendered as flat gray lines that seem neither deep nor dangerous. Several spreads are confusing due to the inclusion of multiple images of the three main characters without clear delineation between scenes. Tiny and Archie do have a certain charm, both in their visual depiction and in their play together, but not enough to overcome the several mystifying spreads and the pat ending. (Picture book. 4-7)