Tiny and the Big Dig

October 23, 2017
Rinker (Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site) moves from hard-at-work vehicles to an equally determined canine in a very earnest story about a dog who refuses to listen to others’ negative opinions. Tiny, a brown and white pup, sends dirt flying as he digs in search of a bone: “A big, big bone! I know it’s there!/ It’ll take some work, but I don’t care!” Despite other animals’ naysaying (“Oh, Tiny, stop! You’re far too small./ There’s nothing in that hole at all”), Tiny digs on, and his grit (both literal and metaphorical) comes through in Myers’s high-spirited ink-and-watercolor cartoons. Eventually, Tiny uncovers several bones—among them a fish bone and a trombone—before hitting pay dirt: a dinosaur skeleton that cheerfully follows him home in a peculiar closing gag. There’s no missing the message about persistence, but Rinker’s verse is leaden and even unclear at times (“Woo-hoo! Hooray! Yay! Yay! Yippee!/ And now you see how it could be”). And it’s not always readily apparent which character is talking—all of the text appears in the same black font, sans quotation marks. Ages 3–5. Illustrator’s agent: Steven Malk, Writers House.

January 1, 2018

PreS-Gr 2-Tiny is a small brown, black, and white pup with big plans. He smells a buried bone and is bound and determined to unearth it, much to the chagrin of a blue bird, a tabby cat, and a large white dog. They take turns telling Tiny to give up as he's too weak and too little to succeed: "Oh, Tiny, stop! You're far too small. There's nothing in that hole at all." The only ones who believe in Tiny and his never-give-up enthusiasm are the dog himself and his owner, a young boy. Written in singsong rhyming verse, the story goes a bit long and verses don't always scan well. Plenty of white space allows ink-and-watercolor cartoon art to stand out, revealing Tiny and the hole he's digging from a variety of perspectives. The child and several animals, including Tiny, speak in the text but determining who is talking can be difficult. VERDICT An additional purchase with a solid message. For the classic story of determination in the face of adversity The Little Engine That Could is still a crowd-pleaser.-Maryann H. Owen, Oak Creek Public Library WI

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2017
Tiny is a small but determined dog who digs for hidden treasures with encouragement from his owner and despite discouragement from other critters. The perky star of the story is a white dog with brown spots and floppy, black ears. His unnamed owner is a little black boy with red glasses who believes in Tiny's abilities to sniff out treasures and dig them up. A larger dog, a cat, and a bird all question Tiny's excavations with negative, teasing, and sometimes-bullying comments about his size and strength. Tiny perseveres, digging up a fish bone, a wishbone, a bone shaped like a telephone, and a trombone. After more digging, Tiny uses a long leash to pull something huge out of the pit he has dug--a complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton. The skeleton emerges intact, and Tiny takes it home, presumably as his pet. The rhyming story is humorous, but the verses have a singsong quality as well as some rather awkward lines and inelegant meter. Cartoon-style illustrations in watercolor and ink use white backgrounds to dramatic effect, with lots of digging action and varied perspectives. Excavating buried treasure is a popular theme explored more winningly in Paul Meisel's See Me Run (2011) and See Me Dig (2013) and in Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen's Caldecott Honor book, Sam and Dave Dig a Hole (2014). Tiny tries hard, but his tale isn't one to be treasured. (Picture book. 3-6)

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October 15, 2017
Preschool-K Rinker, author of the best-selling Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site (2011) and Mighty, Mighty Construction Site (2017), now turns her focus to a pint-size pup (Tiny) digging for a BIG bone. Despite being told by a bird, cat, and sheepdog that he's much too small to dig such a large hole, Tiny is undeterred, and his unmitigated digging becomes a marvelous metaphor for optimism and persistence. Tiny, the nay-saying animals, and his kid a brown-skinned boy with enormous glasses, who believes in the diminutive dogall have their say, but Tiny's is the dominant voice, piping up with positive statements like I am I-can-do-this strong! as he digs. Myers' ink-and-watercolor illustrations make good use of white space and put the spotlight firmly on Tiny and his ever-deepening hole. Tiny makes some findsa fishbone, a wishbone, even a tromboneuntil he hits pay dirt with a gargantuan discovery, providing a wonderfully satisfying resolution to the story. The singsong writing and upbeat message make this uplifting underdog tale a shoo-in for storytimes.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)