T. Rex Time Machine

July 15, 2018
There's a theory that human nature never changes. People have the same wants and needs, no matter what time period they live in. This rule is even more true for dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are always hungry, at least on the evidence of this graphic novel-esque picture book for young readers. When two dinosaurs encounter a time traveler, in a historic moment, their first thought is to eat him. And when the time machine flings them into the future to a bustling city full of strip malls, they just keep on eating. Nearly the entire plot of the book is a catalog of food they enjoy. Dinosaurs love doughnuts and microwaved noodles. Their meals are interrupted from time to time by the local police, who are not pleased to see tyrannosaurs in the convenience store. (The police force, and the other residents of the city, are refreshingly multicultural.) The main characters are so single-minded that the story becomes repetitive, and a little aimless, but there are some pretty good jokes along the way ("Hey! T. Rexes! Put your tiny, baby hands in the air!"), and the language is surprisingly poetic. (One dinosaur describes a microwave as "the sun in a box.") The art is also appealingly primitive (no pun intended). Each tyrannosaur is basically a collection of rectangles perched on one another.Very young readers may get a bit restless, but the book should leave them amused--and maybe a little hungry. (Picture book. 3-5)

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July 30, 2018
After stumbling upon a time machine and hurtling into the future, two tyrannosaurs arrive at a Burger Town drive-through window and discover not only that “the food comes to us!” but also “food is everywhere!” Pizza, tacos, submarine sandwiches, microwaveable noodles, and smartphones to order it all—the dinosaurs are in heaven. The populace, however, is not, and before long, the cops show up with a megaphone and demand the dinosaurs put their “tiny, baby hands in the air.” With the police on their tails, the two hurry through a doughnut festival and back to the time machine, only to realize that they don’t know how it works. A smartphone’s mobile assistant comes to the rescue, sending the dinos to another era. With paneled illustrations and speech bubbles, Chapman (Fruits in Suits) fully exploits this wacky, if sometimes internal-logic-defying premise
to bring hungry dinosaurs into today’s
glorious pizza-filled reality. Ages 3–5. Agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House.

July 1, 2018
Grades K-3 Two treat-oriented T. rex get the trip of their lives in this time-traveling romp. They make short work of the human time traveler who shows up in their prehistoric forest ( Hey look, food ), but upon investigating the strange machine left behind, they find themselves transported to the strangest of places: modern-day America. After a few false starts at a drive-through, the dinosaurs soon realize the full potential of this utopia they've arrived in ( The food comes to us! ). Of course, there is the problem of people, unused to a pair of T. rex in their midst. After an altercation with the police in the middle of the Donut Festival, it's back to the time machine, where the friends have a dino-sized temper tantrum: I missed my CHANCE at a doNUT! (Their info gadget mishears: I want to dance with King Tut? ) And off they go on an Egyptian adventure. Chapman's buoyant illustrations will keep readers giggling, and the dialogue bubbles will make for high-energy read-alouds. Sparkling streams of color add a galactic touch to this wacky adventure.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)