BRIANOSAURUS

It’s not easy being a Brianosaurus!

Brian, a bright green frog, has just learned that frogs were around when dinosaurs walked the Earth. When his friend Koji says, “That kind of means you’re a dinosaur!” Brian embraces his newfound identity and dubs himself Brianosaurus, complete with added upright plates along his spine. At first, the other forest animals love Brianosaurus and his roar. But the frogs at the pond don’t approve (“Don’t you like being a frog, Brian?”), and soon his forest friends start to put restrictions on what he can and can’t do (“Dinosaurs don’t smell flowers!” “Dinosaurs don’t read books!”). Because Brianosaurus can’t please everyone, he opts “to give the forest animals the most dinosaury dinosaur ever” and to “give the frogs the froggiest frog.” But who is he really? The frogs and forest animals argue. Brianosaurus finally yells, “NO, I’M ME!” and declares that they are all “ME-osauruses.” He adds, “Nobody can say what a ME-osaurus does, because every ME-osaurus is DIFFERENT.” From then on, Brianosaurus does what he pleases without worrying. Digitally rendered pencil and watercolor illustrations depict vivid pond and forest scenes and likable and well-meaning friends as the story traces a sweetly funny path to self-acceptance.

Will have readers recognizing that they, too, can be their own unique ME-osauruses.