Review by Booklist Review
Following Dino-Hockey (2007) and Dino-Soccer (2009), Wheeler's latest dino-sports story heads to the baseball diamond, where two teams of prehistoric athletes face off: the Green Sox herbivores and Rib-Eye Reds, including celebrity carnivores like T. rex. Once again, the play-by-play action in the acrylic paintings and the rhyming text ( Green Sox need to change the score. / Their only hope? Apatosaur! ) will captivate young baseball fans, while the humor in each incongruous scene will widen the book's audience to sports-ambivalent kids. A final spread hints at the series' next installment: Buy your tickets at the court / for Dino-Hoops next season's sport! --Engberg, Gillian Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Wheeler and Gott already proved they have a winning formula with Dino-Hockey (2007) and Dino-Soccer (2009), and there's plenty for dinosaur/sports fanatics to enjoy in this latest installment (the final page hints at a basketball follow-up). It's a beautiful day in Jurassic Park (ballpark, that is), and the herbivores and carnivores are taking the field for the season's final game. The crowd is enthusiastic-and similarly extinct. Wheeler's sturdy, concise couplets provide a nicely percussive play-by-play: "Stego rumbles down the line./ Compy calls, This one is mine!'/ Gloves the ball. Throws him out./ That's what baseball's all about!" (The dinosaurs' nicknames are set in contrasting type; a list of their full names can be found in team rosters displayed on the Jumbotron on the first page). Gott nails the drama of high-stakes game with a series of skewed perspectives and never overplays the comedy-his dinosaurs, with their imposing heft and improbably balletic grace, are more than capable of conveying the sublime absurdity of it all. Ages 5-9. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-In this third book about the Rib-Eye Reds (carnivores) and Green Sox (herbivores), the teams are all over the diamond playing fast-action baseball. The rhyming text sweeps youngsters through the game with appropriate baseball idioms peppered throughout. Wheeler includes on-the-field plays as well as typical baseball-crowd fun like a manager's tantrum, a seventh-inning stretch, and a visit to the snack bar. Gott's illustrations are masterful at catching the leaping, running action of the battling behemoths and giving each spread a stop-action, "you are there" feel. The final page promises a rematch on the basketball court in the next book. Libraries looking to satisfy dinosaur lovers as well as sports enthusiasts will find this title an easy sell.-Marge Loch-Wouters, La Crosse Public Library, WI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Using the same formula as in Dino-Hockey and Dino-Soccer, Gott's energetic illustrations and Wheeler's verse (some rhymes are a stretch) depict a baseball game played by dinosaurs. Baseball and dinosaurs--two perennially popular topics for picture books--are a winning combination, but, like a game that goes into extra innings, the book sometimes drags. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
