Review by New York Times Review
Stomp! Chomp! Watch out, here comes Dinah , an irrepressible baby dinosaur who starts life doing the kinds of things big, aggressive reptiles do. But a chance sighting of two much smaller, fluffier creatures exchanging a kiss sets Dinah on a new mission. Her attempts to do something that isn't in her nature make for silly fun that's likely to set preschoolers chomping and stomping around the room and maybe exchanging a few kisses of their own. CHICK-O-SAURUS REX By Lenore Jennewein; illustrated by Daniel Jennewein 32 pp. Simon & Schuster. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) Snobbish farmyard bullies won't let Little Chick play in their treehouse ; his family isn't up to scratch . "If your father isn't brave and mighty, you'll never be either." But Chick digs deeper into his past and unearths some very big - T. rex! - bones . Treehouse acceptance ensured , he shows his own mettle while also remembering the rights of other little creatures . Daniel Jennewein's bold outlines and expressive animals make this simple story, with its interesting DNA fact , into an entertaining, good-hearted romp. GUS, THE DINOSAUR BUS By Julia Liu Illustrated by Bei Lynn 32 pp. Houghton Mifflin. $12.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) Getting to school in the morning would be a lot more fun if it meant sliding out your window onto the back of a friendly green dinosaur . Though other picture books have imagined the narrative possibilities of living with oversize animals, Gus , a sweet-faced herbivore who's happy to help out, is an especially charming addition to the genre. When the Gus bus runs into trouble , kids from school help him find an occupation that's an even better fit . HOW BIG WERE DINOSAURS? Written and illustrated by Lita Judge 40 pp. Roaring Brook Press. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 6 to 9) Judge knows about dinosaurs; she started going on digs at the age of 15 , and published "Born to Be Giants: How Baby Dinosaurs Grew to Rule the World" in 2010 . Here she compares dinosaurs with animals (and S.U.V.'s ) on earth today. The result is an amusing visual mismatch; a boy clings for dear life to the neck of a galloping Struthiomimus while racehorses struggle to keep up ; three cows pause in their grazing to peer worriedly at a Stegosaurus (who weighs as much as they do, combined ). DINOSAUROLOGY The Search for a Lost World By Raleigh Rimes Illustrated. 30 pp. Candlewick Press. $19.99. (Novelty book; ages 8 to 12) The large-format books in the "Ology" series, with their thick, embossed covers and scrapbooklike pages with envelopes of coded messages and tiny artifacts, are just the thing for rainy weekends and late-night flashlight reading. "Dinosaurology," supposedly the account of a 1907 "expedition into the unknown," is packed with detailed illustrations, mini-biographies of real and imagined paleontologists and a through-narrative about an island where dinosaurs still roam . Be warned: may cause a severe outbreak of dinophilia among middle-grade readers. SARAH HARRISON SMITH ONLINE A slide show of this week's illustrated books at nytimes.com/books.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [August 25, 2013]
Review by Booklist Review
Brutish baby dinosaur Dinah knows how to chomp, stomp, and whomp, but she's having trouble learning how to give a kiss. Her attempts wreak havoc on the world around her, inadvertently flattening an unsuspecting fish, munching a brontosaurus tail, and gobbling a lizard. That is, until her dino sibling hatches, and she has someone her own size and temperament with whom to trade kisses (which turn out to be more like head-butts). Stein (Interrupting Chicken, 2012) makes great use of fun onomatopoeia to punctuate a prehistoric tale modern parents know all too well children making earnest efforts to learn a new skill only to achieve hilariously disastrous results. Despite its cuddly name, Dinosaur Kisses may be too boisterous for a bedtime book, and impressionable toddlers may take the biting story line a little too literally. But it is likely to be another rowdy story- and circle-time win for Stein, who's proving to be a master at anthropomorphizing critters with perfectly overemphatic kid-like mannerisms.--Walters Wright, Lexi Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Chomp! Stomp! Whomp! Dinah is a wide-eyed, speckled baby dinosaur who wants to try everything, but finesse is not her strong point. She has stubby legs, an eager smile, and a matchless set of jaws. When two tiny creatures kiss each other at Dinah's feet, Dinah wants to try, too. Her first victim gets a bite on the rear, the next one is flattened by her big dinosaur stompers, and the third gets... eaten. "Whoops," says Dinah. "Not good." Only when another baby dinosaur appears does Dinah find a playmate whose life she won't endanger. "What's kiss?" the other dinosaur asks, and the two explore affection-rather violently. Stein (Ol' Mama Squirrel) draws Dinah with a simple, cookie-cutter outline, but her stricken expressions and forthright pursuit of love are plenty complex. Dinah's swampy world features a sulfurous yellow sky and pint-size volcanoes that explode quietly in the distance. Kids will plunge into the whomping and chomping with glee, and they'll understand a hero who means to be careful, but who ends up stomping all over things anyway. Ages 2-5. Agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-K-With no sound effects, bells, or whistles, this production highlights the joy that can be found in someone simply reading a book with enthusiasm. Read with playful intonation by Jessica Almasy, the story of Dinah the Dinosaur's search for the perfect kiss technique will elicit belly laughs from toddlers and preschoolers. Every guttural "WHOMP," "CHOMP," and "STOMP" in Dinah's exploration of kissing will delight young listeners, but the recording must be paired with David Ezra Stein's illustrations for full comic effect. The tracks are identical, but with page turn signals on track two. This is a perfect choice for little dinosaur lovers and zealous smoochers.-Jennifer Verbrugge, Dakota County Library, Eagan, MN (c) Copyright 2013. 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
Dinah the dinosaur bursts out of her egg, eager to experience her (prehistoric) world. After some exploratory stomping and chomping, she sees two little fluffy animals puckering up for a kiss and decides to give it try. Dinah doesn't know her own strength, though, and her puppyish attempts at affection miss their marks -- in a big way. Her first victim recipient, a small aquatic-ish creature, gets head-butted instead of kissed. Next, she chomps down on the hindquarters of an unappreciative big dinosaur. The third time is not the charm: Dinah flattens a two-legged fish, possibly setting evolution back a few millennia ("Whoops"). Stein's engaging illustrations work hand in hand with his simple, energetic text. The bare, but not barren, landscape features pink and yellow skies and a lush green foreground dotted with occasional plants and a few primordial pools of water. Friendly Dinah takes center stage; her silly antics never look threatening. She finally meets her match when one of her nest-mates hatches, and the two "kiss" -- a.k.a. chomp and stomp and whomp -- to their hearts' content. Preschool humor at its finest. kitty flynn (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Chomping and stomping come naturally to an exuberant dinosaur hatchling. Kissing? That takes practice. Emerging from her egg at a run, Dinah STOMPS her fat legs and CHOMPS weeds with her sharp teeth. Kissing, though, turns out to be a challenge. After sending one hapless victim flying with a head butt and another inadvertently down the hatch ("Whoops," she says. "Not good"), she returns to the hatcheryjust in time to welcome a new sib with kisses--the sort that involve chomping, stomping and delighted head butts ("WHOMP!"). Drawn in thick outlines with a huge grin, wide eyes and a mottled yellow hide, Dinah stumps her way through minimally detailed prehistoric landscapes populated with anxious-looking smaller creatures. Children who groove on wimpy little butterfly kisses had best look elsewhere. A kissing cousin to Bob Shea's Dinosaur vs. series. (Picture book. 3-5)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
