When Dinosaurs Came with Everything

Starred review from August 6, 2007
Broach (Shakespeare's Secret
) and Caldecott Medalist Small's (So You Want to Be President?
) deadpan delivery of a delectably over-the-top premise makes this tall-format picture book a virtually guaranteed crowd-pleaser. At the bakery with his mother, the freckle-faced narrator spies an odd sign above the doughnut case: “Buy a Dozen Get a Dinosaur.” They make the purchase, expecting a toy, but the bakery lady trots out a triceratops. When the boy's flummoxed mother cries, “How are we supposed to get that
home?” the proprietor responds with a sardonic smile, “Oh, don't worry, he'll follow you. They always do.” After his doctor's appointment, the boy asks for a sticker, but the nurse announces that there are no stickers today, “just dinosaurs,” and the receptionist presents him with a stegosaurus. His mother prudently refuses to stop at the shoe store, movie theater and diner, but the boy picks up a pterosaur at the barber shop and uses a doughnut to lure home a hadrosaur (“It wasn't my fault” he disingenuously tells readers). Beleaguered by prehistoric pets, Mom comes up with a brilliant solution. Small fuels his watercolor-and-ink art with just the right dose of hyperbole, comically relaying the boy's elation and the mother's distress at the expanding menagerie. This well-balanced romp packs an outsize helping of humor. Ages 3-7.

September 1, 2007
PreS-Gr 1-In a playful take on the stickers and lollipops that bored kids sweep up at businesses as parents do errands, Broach imagines what would happen if a dinosaur were the giveaway of the day. A boy's increasing delight at the freebies he collects from the bakery, the doctor, and barber contrast with his mother's increasing panic and dismay as the lumbering beasts start to accumulate. When they acquire the fourth behemoth, Mom decides that the errands are done and whisks everyone home. Once there, she finds some unique ways to put the stegosaurus, triceratops, hadrosaur, and pterosaur to good use doing household chores. Small's sketchy, tongue-in-cheek watercolor-and-ink artwork perfectly captures the boy's exuberance, the dinosaurs' mass, and the hubbub that a city full of these reptiles would create. Dinosaur lovers will enjoy seeing their favorite creatures pictured and named, though the book's appeal won't just be for them. Both listeners and independent readers will appreciate the humor in the text, and the book will spark imaginations and discussions on what else might make great giveaways."Marge Loch-Wouters, Menasha Public Library, WI"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2007
The young redheaded narrator hates going on errands with his mother. What could be more boring? But then something amazing happens. At every store they visit, a free gift comes with their purchase. Not a toy, not a lollipopa dinosaur. A triceratops at the bakery, a pterosaur at the barbershop. At the doctors office the boy begs for a shot; it comes with a stegosaurus. This is a one-joke tale, but Smalls illustrations heighten the humor in every way, shape, and form. Using two-page spreads to best advantage, he fills the pages with dinosaurs doing all sorts of smile-producing activities: eating out of the garbage truck, sliding down a slide, cleaning the gutters. In fact, Mom finds all sorts of chores for the dinos to do (tail spikes come in handy for hanging wet laundry). The final spread, a bring-your-own-dinosaur party in the backyard, complete with giant reptiles frolicking in the pool, will have kids giggling for sure. Dinosaur lovers will love this.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)