CAN I HAVE A STEGOSAURUS, MOM? CAN I? PLEASE!?

The pleading voice of the title belongs to an impish boy, baseball cap worn backwards, who negotiates fiercely. A stegosaurus would scare monsters from his room, help him clean his plate at dinner, escort him trick-or-treating, take him to the North Pole to deliver a Christmas list. He has found an immense egg in the woods, so the question is no mere hypothetical. But when the egg hatches, he has to switch his stance slightly: ``Can I have a Tyrannosaurus Rex, Mom?'' The boy seems older than the book's intended audience, who may find the twist at the end a little too subtle. It's forced, and one-joke funny. The illustrations, sometimes haunting and sometimes baffling, are soft-edged; they are full of dramatic angles and lighting effects. (Picture book. 3-6)