Unapologetically unscientific, but a lovely way to tuck in young dinosaur fanciers everywhere.
Sweet lullabies meet prehistoric predators and plant eaters in a bedtime board book with loads of charm and color.
From the eye-catching iridescence of the tactile plates on the mother stegasaurus on the cover to the gentle, nursery-rhyme lilt of each dinosaur vignette, this book is a pleasant surprise on many levels. Presented in double-page tableaux pairing a stanza of text with richly colorful and delightfully expressive images of adult-child dinosaur pairs, this book maintains a winning tone throughout. Less a book about dinosaurs than a restful celebration of familial bedtime bonding, it succeeds on sincerity and the natural fascination kids have for dinosaurs. “Rock-a-bye, T. rex, in the treetop, / when your feet stomp, the mountains do rock. / You give a big yawn that means it’s nightfall, / so home you come, dino—claws, teeth and all.” It’s not Shakespeare, but it’s nice. Seven different dinosaur species are represented, Brachiosaurus, Brontosaurus, Allosaurus, and more, as well as Pterodactylus, all in different stages of the bedtime routine. The stylized renderings are not at all scary, and they convey very clearly the love between caregiver and child. Whether it’s hugs or snuggles, reading a bedtime book together, or encouraging young dinos to eat their greens, there’s a disarming level of blissful domesticity that should resonate well with tired would-be dinosaurs.
Unapologetically unscientific, but a lovely way to tuck in young dinosaur fanciers everywhere. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5344-5640-2
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
Perfect for Valentine’s Day, but the syrupy sweetness will cloy after the holiday.
Animal parents declare their love for their offspring in alphabetical order.
Each page displays an enormous capital letter, one line of verse with the keyword capitalized, and a loving nonhuman parent gazing adoringly at their baby. “A is for Always. I always love you more. / B is for Butterfly kisses. It’s you that I adore.” While not named or labelled as such, the A is also for an alligator and its hatchling and B is for a butterfly and a butterfly child (not a caterpillar—biology is not the aim of this title) interacting in some way with the said letter. For E there are an elephant and a calf; U features a unicorn and foal; and X, keyed to the last letter of the animal’s name, corresponds to a fox and three pups. The final double-page spread shows all the featured creatures and their babies as the last line declares: “Baby, I love you from A to Z!” The verse is standard fare and appropriately sentimental. The art is cartoony-cute and populated by suitably loving critters on solid backgrounds. Hearts accent each scene, but the theme of the project is never in any doubt.
Perfect for Valentine’s Day, but the syrupy sweetness will cloy after the holiday. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-7282-2095-6
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
Not a great choice for the youngest dinosaur lovers.
A board-book ode to parental love as old as the dinosaurs.
A line of text on the left of each spread reads like a dinosaur-themed valentine that a third grader might choose, with punishingly punny wordplay that incorporates dinosaur-related words. On the facing page a dinosaur pair—a baby and an adult—gaze lovingly into each other’s eyes against whimsical, pastel-hued prehistoric-ish backgrounds. In smaller print, in all caps, at the bottom of the left page is the scientific name for the dinosaur referenced by the text and picture followed by a helpful phonetic pronunciation guide. White-outlined footprints appear next to their names, though the white is sometimes difficult to see against the pastel pages. Ten of the best-known dinosaurs are included. Twisting the dinosaur names to fit the loving sentiments succeeds some of the time but more often results in tortured text, well beyond the understanding of the board book audience. The line accompanying two hugging velociraptors, for instance, is just confusing: “Wrap-TOR arms around me, / with you I’ll always stay.” Others are just plain clumsy: “I-wanna-GUANODON you kisses, / I truly just adore you.” Very young children, even those fascinated by dinosaurs, will not get it. Older dinosaur fans will be put off by the babyish format.
Not a great choice for the youngest dinosaur lovers. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-2295-0
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
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