A simple yet charming premise wonderfully executed.
A child has lost their invisible dinosaur!
With impeccable comedic timing, a small Asian-presenting child with pale skin and straight black hair tied into spiky pigtails explains their predicament. Their dinosaur had been dirty, but after a bath, he disappeared. Delicately rendered minimalist spreads in muted colors focus on the child, while bright scribbly crayon depictions bring to life their story: A hose sprays a dino who’s mostly invisible against the white background except for brown “muddy” legs and belly. And once the bath is complete, there’s no trace of a dinosaur left. The child tries some plans that don’t work as intended: making piles of the dinosaur’s favorite peanut butter–and-jelly sandwich (which other adorably quirky animals come to eat) and putting up “lost” signs (the rectangle traditionally reserved for a photograph is blank). They explain that the dinosaur would be easy to spot in rain or snow “or anything really,” as crayon illustrations show raindrops and sleet creating a dinosaur-shaped negative space. But today is sunny and clear, and the dejected child trudges through a field of flowers and up a hill. But wait—dandelion fluff is falling onto a curved surface, but is it really a hill? The dinosaur’s peanut butter–and-jelly–smeared snout gives him away, and the child’s wide smile at their reunion is just as sweet. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A simple yet charming premise wonderfully executed. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: May 9, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-5362-2625-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Feb. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back.
With such short arms, how can Tiny T. Rex give a sad friend a hug?
Fleck goes for cute in the simple, minimally detailed illustrations, drawing the diminutive theropod with a chubby turquoise body and little nubs for limbs under a massive, squared-off head. Impelled by the sight of stegosaurian buddy Pointy looking glum, little Tiny sets out to attempt the seemingly impossible, a comforting hug. Having made the rounds seeking advice—the dino’s pea-green dad recommends math; purple, New Age aunt offers cucumber juice (“That is disgusting”); red mom tells him that it’s OK not to be able to hug (“You are tiny, but your heart is big!”), and blue and yellow older sibs suggest practice—Tiny takes up the last as the most immediately useful notion. Unfortunately, the “tree” the little reptile tries to hug turns out to be a pterodactyl’s leg. “Now I am falling,” Tiny notes in the consistently self-referential narrative. “I should not have let go.” Fortunately, Tiny lands on Pointy’s head, and the proclamation that though Rexes’ hugs may be tiny, “I will do my very best because you are my very best friend” proves just the mood-lightening ticket. “Thank you, Tiny. That was the biggest hug ever.” Young audiences always find the “clueless grown-ups” trope a knee-slapper, the overall tone never turns preachy, and Tiny’s instinctive kindness definitely puts him at (gentle) odds with the dinky dino star of Bob Shea’s Dinosaur Vs. series.
Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: March 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4521-7033-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
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