A fun fantasy sure to be enjoyed by the dino-obsessed.
An imaginative young Japanese child receives a birthday gift that any kid would covet—a dinosaur suit!
The child wears the suit to the park to show the other children, but they are frightened and scatter. This is when the dinosaurs arrive. They show the child a secret tunnel from the park to their home in Dinosaur Land. Many varieties of dinosaur make an appearance on Herbivore Island to play, including the Iguanodon, the Brachiosaurus, and Pterosaur taxis. However, the carnivores are not far away. When a “pack of Tyrannosauruses” heads to Herbivore Island, the child comes up with a plan to mobilize the dinosaurs and fight the carnivores away. From the storyline to the child’s suit, this (uncredited) English translation of the Japanese Boku ga kyoryu data toki is reminiscent of Where the Wild Things Are, though less enchanting. The busy illustrations offer multiple perspectives of Dinosaur Land, giving readers much to explore. Both the friendly herbivores and the villainous carnivores are depicted foraging and hunting, respectively, placing their different diets in stark contrast. Mild violence is employed as the herbivores fight to protect themselves. The final double-page spread offers a charming twist when the child emerges from Dinosaur Land and the other dinosaurs are revealed to be other children in their own dino suits.
A fun fantasy sure to be enjoyed by the dino-obsessed. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-927018-88-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simply Read
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound.
The titular cookie runs off the page at a bookstore storytime, pursued by young listeners and literary characters.
Following on 13 previous How To Catch… escapades, Wallace supplies sometimes-tortured doggerel and Elkerton, a set of helter-skelter cartoon scenes. Here the insouciant narrator scampers through aisles, avoiding a series of elaborate snares set by the racially diverse young storytime audience with help from some classic figures: “Alice and her mad-hat friends, / as a gift for my unbirthday, / helped guide me through the walls of shelves— / now I’m bound to find my way.” The literary helpers don’t look like their conventional or Disney counterparts in the illustrations, but all are clearly identified by at least a broad hint or visual cue, like the unnamed “wizard” who swoops in on a broom to knock over a tower labeled “Frogwarts.” Along with playing a bit fast and loose with details (“Perhaps the boy with the magic beans / saved me with his cow…”) the author discards his original’s lip-smacking climax to have the errant snack circling back at last to his book for a comfier sort of happily-ever-after.
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-0935-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts.
Can knightly deeds bring together a feathered odd couple who are on opposite daily schedules?
Having won over a dragon (and millions of fans) in the Caldecott Honor–winning Knight Owl (2022), the fierce yet impossibly cute nocturnal, armor-clad owlet faces a new challenge—sleep deprivation—in the wake of taking on Early Bird, a trainee who rises with the sun and chatters interminably: “I made pancakes! Do you like pancakes? I love pancakes! Where’s the syrup?” It’s enough to test the patience of even the knightliest of owls, and eventually Knight Owl explodes in anger. But although Early Bird is even smaller than her mentor, she turns out to be just as determined to achieve knighthood. After he tells her to leave, she acquits herself so nobly in a climactic encounter with a pack of wolves that she earns a place at the castle. Denise proves a dab hand at depicting genuinely slinky, scary wolves as well as slipping cheerfully anachronistic newspapers and other sight gags into his realistically wrought medieval settings to underscore the tale’s tongue-in-cheek tone. Better yet, a final view of the doughty duo sitting down together to a lavish pancake breakfast/dinner at dusk ends the episode in a sweet rush of syrup and bonhomie.
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9780316564526
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
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