The dino door

A prehistoric portal offers more than diversion in this inventive picture book from Funk (the Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast series) and Kurilla (Today at School). A pale-skinned dinosaur enthusiast, dressed in a full-body costume, would rather do anything than tackle the to-do list tacked up on their bedroom wall. Punchy dinosaur puns chronicle avoidant behaviors: "Dino soar" accompanies the child's tossing a purple triceratops stuffie in the air; "Dino score" attends a blue stegosaurus being stuffed into a basketball hoop. When "Dino BORE" sets into the pastel-hued bedroom scenes, the protagonist assembles art supplies and draws a "Dino door" to escape into an imaginary world bursting with cuddly reptiles who party on a tropical "Dino shore" and eat "Dino s'mores." There, saturated blues, greens, oranges, and pinks represent a dreamscape that's as irresistible as procrastination itself. And having taken a moment in pleasure and play, the child returns to reality refreshed and ready to tackle the list, suggesting that imagination and responsibility can coexist--in any era. Ages 4--8. Author's agent: Kathleen Rushall, Andrea Brown Literary. Illustrator's agent: Jennifer Rofé, Andrea Brown Literary. (May)

A youngster finds an inspired way to put off bedtime. A redheaded, light-skinned child in a green dinosaur costume is having a grand time in what looks like a playroom, tossing around a dino stuffie ("Dino soar"), impersonating a dino ("Dino ROAR"), and so on. Who can blame the kid for not wanting to drop everything to tackle a chore chart ("To do: brush teeth…")? Chores are, after all, a "dino BORE!" The little one decides to draw a picture of a garden that includes an orange door--might it be a "dino door"? The kid walks through it (it's that kind of story) and explores a sunny, flower-and-tree-filled land of dinos. Funk is resourceful when it comes to adhering to his self-imposed minimalist rhyme scheme; readers can expect a "dino s'more" before a concluding "dino snore," which finds the all-tuckered-out kid fast asleep in bed back at home. The idea of a realm conjured by a child as an escape from conditions imposed by a killjoy offstage parent calls to mindWhere the Wild Things Are, although Kurilla isn't trying to be Maurice Sendak. Featuring the cushiony edges and eye-popping palette of aBarney & Friends episode, her cartoony digital art gives readers everything they need to know--a heavy lift in a book with minimal text. Dinosaurs, rhymes, an obstinate child--what's not to like?(Picture book. 3-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.