DINOSAURS LOVE UNDERPANTS
by Claire Freedman and illustrated by Ben Cort
The author and illustrator of Aliens Love Underpants (2007) go to the well again, describing in stumbling verse and colorful but unexceptional art how the dinos wiped themselves out squabbling over their prehistoric panties. Seeing cavemen modeling newly invented fur boxer shorts, the envious dinosaurs steal the concept, but they discover certain design flaws: “The pants from Woolly Mammoth coats / Made Stegosaurus itchy. / Diplodocus was really mad. / His briefs were way too pinchy!” Irritation quickly escalates into fury, and the ensuing autogenocide both leaves the cavemen (there are no women in evidence) relieved and leads to a closing “Don’t forget briefs saved Mankind. / They’re not just underwear!” Children may find Cort’s cartoon pictures of big, grumpy-looking dinosaurs sporting undies loud with polka-dots and other patterns briefly (so to speak) amusing. (Picture book. 6-8)