I CAN DRAW A WEEPASAUR AND OTHER DINOSAURS

Frequent collaborators Gilchrist and Greenfield (Angels: An African American Treasury, 1998, etc.) capture a budding artist's enthusiasm and compulsion to paint: "My room is full, / but my hand won't stop, / won't stop, / putting paint on paper / paint on paper, / paint . . ." What this child paints is dinosaurs of her own invention, including a Speedasaurus ("She never speaks to carnivores"), a (male!) Shoppersaurus, a Weeposaurus, a Sleeposaurus, a Messysaurus, and a Babysaurus: "He's his Mama's little baby, / Smiling sweet in Tennessee, / But his middle's in Montana, / And his tail's in Waikiki." The dark-skinned child in Gilchrist's illustrations positively radiates joy as she presides over an array of smiling, simply drawn cartoon dinosaurs rendered in bright paintbox colors. Children will easily catch the breezy, bouncy mood here, and few will be able to resist the invitation to create more new dinos, in pictures, words, or both. (Picture book/poetry. 5-7)