An amusingly anarchic paleontological primer.
Racially diverse children take a class field trip and learn about dinosaurs...and themselves.
A busload of not-so-supervised children romps through a dinosaur exhibit at a museum of natural history. They hop over stanchions, clamber up the skeleton displays, and seize fossil pieces; a sign ineffectually reads, “PLEASE DON’T TOUCH!” An ambiguously Black museum employee tries in vain to maintain order (though he ultimately joins the fun). Narrated in the first-person plural, the rhyming text lists the many attributes of dinosaurs: “We're explorers, / outdoorers. / We travel in herds. / Don't try to catch us, / we'll fly off like birds”; and “WE'VE GOT / MAXILLAE, / MANDIBLES, / CLAVICLES, / RIBS. // SCAPULAS, / HUMERI, / TIBIAS, / FIBS”; and so forth. However, the amusing and educational illustrations make it clear that the children aren’t too different from the prehistoric reptiles; in fact, by the visit’s end, the kids have undergone a “roarsome” transformation. Ylvisaker’s text—which takes amusing liberties to achieve some of the rhymes—is delightfully silly but provides plenty of opportunities for vocabulary-building. Best of all, caregivers and children can channel their inner dinos and “ROAR,” “STOMP,” and “CHOMP!” together. The children are cartoonishly rendered with faces composed of simple geometric shapes and a variety of skin tones. One girl uses a wheelchair.
An amusingly anarchic paleontological primer. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: March 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-951836-43-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cameron + Company
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
As ephemeral as a valentine.
Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.
Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.
As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-9268-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Gently models kindness and respect—positive behavior that can be applied daily.
A group of young “dinosauruses” go out into the world on their own.
A fuchsia little Hugasaurus and her Pappysaur (both of whom resemble Triceratops) have never been apart before, but Hugasaurus happily heads off with lunchbox in hand and “wonder in her heart” to make new friends. The story has a first-day-of-school feeling, but Hugasaurus doesn’t end up in a formal school environment; rather, she finds herself on a playground with other little prehistoric creatures, though no teacher or adult seems to be around. At first, the new friends laugh and play. But Hugasaurus’ pals begin to squabble, and play comes to a halt. As she wonders what to do, a fuzzy platypus playmate asks some wise questions (“What…would your Pappy say to do? / What makes YOU feel better?”), and Hugasaurus decides to give everyone a hug—though she remembers to ask permission first. Slowly, good humor is restored and play begins anew with promises to be slow to anger and, in general, to help create a kinder world. Short rhyming verses occasionally use near rhyme but also include fun pairs like ripples and double-triples. Featuring cozy illustrations of brightly colored creatures, the tale sends a strong message about appropriate and inappropriate ways to resolve conflict, the final pages restating the lesson plainly in a refrain that could become a classroom motto. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Gently models kindness and respect—positive behavior that can be applied daily. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-82869-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
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