GNASH, GNAW, DINOSAUR!

While seemingly light fare at first glance, Mitton’s rhyming verses impart a fair amount of information about their dinosaur subjects, reflecting their behavior, food and eating habits and habitats. Peaceful Diplodocus’s long neck can reach the leaves he eats, but watch out for that whip-like tail. Pteranadon’s poem focuses on flight: “Watch how I whirl from the cliffs with a wheeeeeeeee! / swooping to scoop up a fish from the sea.” Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops and Deinonychus round out the more well-known dinosaurs, while Kronosaurus and Mononykus represent the lesser-known species. Front endpapers offer a pronunciation guide, while back ones give extra bites of information. Chapman’s illustrations reflect the text’s subtle fact-underneath-fun manner. While her dinosaurs would not be out of place on any cartoon channel, their habitats and body structures are accurate, even if their colors may be a little outlandish. Allowing for motion of a sort, the flaps suit the topic well, especially since many of the dinosaurs are too large to fit on a spread. With great vocabulary, verses that scan well and a large trim size, this fits well into dinosaur-themed storytimes. (Picture book/poetry. 3-6)