DINOSOARING
by Deb Lund & illustrated by Howard Fine
Dinos take to the air in the latest joyride from the creators of Dinosailors (2003) and All Aboard the Dinotrain (2006).
It takes multiple tries and a mighty dino-push to get their Brobdignagian cargo plane off the ground, but once airborne it’s all fun and games. “They dangle from their wide trapeze / And dinodance on wings with ease. / The crowd below screams out for more. / They love to watch them dinosoar!”—until sudden winds and spins prompt a hasty “dinojump.” Outfitting his dino-aviators (all easily recognizable types, identified on the endpapers) in goggles and scarves, Fine uses broad and busy brushwork in full-bleed double-page spreads. He gives his cast a comically massive look and captures an entirely appropriate feeling of frenzied, slapstick action in keeping with the rhymed text’s overcaffeinated tempo. Once down safely, all “kiss the ground, give dinothanks, / And promise, ‘No more dinopranks!’ ” As if.
Dinosaur fans, or anyone who enjoys horseplay on a humongous scale, will happily welcome back these gargantuan goofs.
(Picture book. 6-8)