Review by Booklist Review
Ages 4-8. Obsessed with dinosaurs, Rex decides to plant a dinosaur garden. Something goes radically wrong with his seedlings--they sprout into a giant tropical jungle that is soon home to many plant-eating dinosaurs. Nevertheless, all is well until Rex mistakenly adopts a tyrannosaurus egg and has to be rescued from the baby's enraged mother. This fourth book in Donnelly's dinosaur series adroitly combines dinosaur facts with a screwball story and humorous cartoons. The sum of these parts? Pure delight for prehistoric animal buffs. An added bonus is the informative glossary of various dinosaur species. --Beth Herbert
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS - Gr 2-- Deciding that it would be fun to plant a garden for dinosaurs, Rex and his dog, Bones, buy some seeds for asparagus and broccoli. The garden is planted and lovingly tended. Suddenly, with a loud ``Fwamp!'' the tiny plot of ground is turned into a dinosaur jungle--complete with the roaming beasts. Rex finds an egg among some of the low-lying plants; before he can locate the mother, the hatching begins. Suddenly, the irate (Tyrannosaurus) mother appears from the foliage, and disaster looms for Rex and Bones. All is not lost, however, for the Pterodactylus flies into the picture, picks them up, and returns them home, where Rex finds another egg. And with a final ``crack,'' imaginations will be piqued. Coupled with the exuberant, cheery cartoon illustrations on each page, the well-constructed storyline and manageable text will maintain interest from the first page to the final textless page that shows a cracking, ``I-wonder-what-it-will-be'' egg. Opportunities for discussion and creative activities can be initiated easily with the open-endedness of this engaging and artfully informative book. A useful glossary is appended. Children will love this book, and librarians should plan for multiple copies. --Mary Lou Budd, Milford South Elementary School, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Rex plants a garden he hopes will attract plant-eating dinosaurs. Magically transported back in time, he finds an egg which hatches a tyrannosaurus. Chased back to his own time, Rex finds a second huge egg, and the reader is left to imagine what may hatch. A slight, whimsical fantasy with cartoonlike illustrations. From HORN BOOK 1990, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
