Rory the Dinosaur Wants a Pet

May 2, 2016
Rory, first seen in Rory the Dinosaur: Me and My Dad, has just met his buddy Hank’s new pet crab, and now Rory wants his own pet. After some false starts—“Would you like to be my pet?” Rory asks a tortoise. “Nope,” it replies—a coconut falls out of a tree. Problem solved. “Dad, he followed me home can I keep him?” Rory shouts; Dad just stares. No matter. The coconut—promptly named George—is the pet of Rory’s dreams, and Climo’s crisp, ever-adorable cartoons show the two teeter-tottering, playing dress-up, and sharing a bubble bath. It’s a cheerfully absurd portrait of unconditional love. Ages 4–8. Agent: Kathleen Ortiz, New Leaf Literary & Media.

April 15, 2016
Rory is a lucky dinosaur. He so much wants a pet, and a pet finds him instead!First introduced to this sweet anthropomorphized dinosaur in Rory the Dinosaur: Me and My Dad, readers now find him standing on his hands in excitement because he is going to play with his friends. When he meets them at the beach, sloth Hank has a surprise pet to show off. It is none other than a hermit crab. (Climo's lighthearted approach shows a pet that probably displays as much activity as a sloth could take!) After saying goodbye to his friends, Rory thinks about how much fun it would be to have a pet of his own. When all the possible pets he meets on the way home don't work out, he accepts he might not find one today. But: lo and behold! A coconut falls from a tree and rolls after him! How could he not keep it, now that it has followed him home? Now named George, the coconut is all that a pet should be, making Rory very happy. The cartoon-style illustrations, achieved with "digital magic," are set off with plenty of white space, and with just a sentence or two per page, it is an appealing read-aloud.Children just developing a sense of humor will appreciate the innocent silliness of the tale. (Picture book. 3-6)

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June 1, 2016

PreS-Gr 1-In Rory the dinosaur's second adventure, he decides he wants a pet. The shells at the beach are all empty. Other creatures are too high to reach or too fast to catch, or they simply don't want to be pets at all. Just as Rory is about to give up, something brown and fuzzy (a coconut) shakes loose from a palm tree and rolls right up to him. Immediately claiming it as his longed-for pet, Rory rushes home to show his dad. He dubs his new pet George, and they play, bathe, put on pajamas, and settle in to share a book before bedtime. The digital cartoons are simple yet clear, colorful, and expressive. Young readers will see Rory's pet for what it truly is and will delight in being wiser than the little dinosaur. VERDICT A fun book to share with the very young either one-on-one or in small groups.-Kelly Roth, Bartow County Public Library, Cartersville, GA

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