DINOS

Stacked touch-and-feel elements provide the primary interest in yet another cartoony dinosaur book for toddlers.

Fourteen double-page scenes present five stylized, smiling dinosaurs and one pterosaur, each depicted tail or wing first, with a turn of the page required to reveal the bulk of the beast. Each reptilian limb features a textured surface that invites the touch of little hands. The cover and all but the final two pages have die-cut windows that offer a preview of each rectangular touch-and-feel surface, arranged one above another. The rhymed text is light on information, though every couplet identifies one notable trait of each dinosaur. The opening tableau sets the scene: “Let’s all go on a journey to a different time and place, / When dinosaurs ruled the earth. What dangers will we face?” A long blue tail with a club at the end stretches across both pages, and the text suggests, “Let’s follow the trail of this spiky tail....” The tail’s owner, pictured on the following page, is Ankylosaurus (“... look at her spikes— / With armor like that, she can do what she likes!”). Ankylosaurus studies another tail, as the text demands, “ ‘Stomp, stomp!’ Who’s by the swamp?” The owner of that tail is Stegosaurus, who notices yet another tail, and so on. The follow-the-tail device provides a fun peekaboo element to the proceedings. The bright colors and pop-art prehistoric backgrounds are delightful, but Triceratops is one horn short.

Adequate dino diversion for tots.