Review by Booklist Review
A little boy wonders out loud about having a triceratops for a pet. The comic conceit is that it would be exactly like having a dog, except on a somewhat more Jurassic scale. The little boy first imagines seeing a triceratops, looking rather like a cuddly puppy, curled up in a pet-store window. Then come the difficulties of pet ownership. For example, the triceratops can only fit its front horn through the doghouse. And in a game of fetch, the triceratops comes back with an entire tree instead of the thrown stick. Humorous details (like the shovel and huge garbage bag the boy lugs on walks) carry the story through the otherwise simple contrast of sizes. The concept feels a bit overdone, even for the smallest children, but the illustrations are warm and cheerful-looking, and the good mood carries through to the very end: If I had a triceratops, I would be the luckiest kid in the world. --Fletcher, Connie Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Continuing to riff on the idea of kids as the proud owners of prehistoric pets, O'Connor follows If I Had a Raptor with a boy's fantasy of life with an enormous orange triceratops of his own. It's all about physical comedy as the boy plays fetch with the triceratops (boy tosses stick, dino returns with uprooted tree), teaches her tricks (high-fiving nearly results in an accidental squashing), and keeps her safe from things like large bones: "She could choke. (And besides, they might belong to a relative of hers.)" Larger-than-life fun for animal- and dinosaur-loving kids. Ages 3-7. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-K-Dinosaurs and fantasies about a perfect pet are both topics loaded with kid appeal, and this picture book, which combines the two, is a real charmer. It is a companion to If I Had a Raptor (Candlewick, 2013) and follows a young boy who imagines life with an exuberant triceratops, who walks on a leash, plays fetch, and learns to sit up, roll over, and play dead. However, where O'Connor's raptor was an occasionally menacing, birdlike creature, his tongue-lolling, tail-wagging triceratops is positively cuddly, and kids will find themselves agreeing with the nameless narrator's assertion that all the work associated with owning a pet "will all be worth it when she runs out to greet me at the end of the day." Rendered with thick-lined pen strokes and bright watercolors, the illustrations have a cartoonlike feel that will invite peals of laughter from the younger set yet are artful, imbued with a sophistication that adults will appreciate: an unhappy looking dinosaur crammed into a tiny tub for a bath or attempting to cuddle up next to her owner at night. The accompanying text is appropriately understated, and pairing it with the over-the-top images makes for a hilarious combination. The young narrator veers into the quirky at times, too, letting the audience know that he would never let his pet chew on any large bones, both because of the risk of choking and because "they might belong to a relative of hers." Prehistoric pet ownership has never been more enchanting.-Mahnaz Dar, School Library Journal (c) Copyright 2014. 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
Imagining how he would care for his very own triceratops--walking it, cleaning up after it, teaching it tricks--one little boy imagines how the work "will all be worth it when she runs out to greet me at the end of the day." Contrasting with the endearingly straight-faced text, the pencil and watercolor illustrations make the impracticality of dinosaur ownership humorously clear. (c) Copyright 2015. 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.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The creator of If I Had a Raptor (2014) switches out one dino-pet for another, doggier, one."Owning a triceratops is a lot of work," observes the young narrator as he runs after his huge orange pet with a shovel, watches her "fetch" an entire uprooted tree and delivers a soapy scrub with a push broom ("No! Don't shake!"). On the other hand, she'll learn tricks, guard against burglars or "the occasional T-Rex" and (literally) bust out of the house for a joyful reunion at the end of a wearying school day. In bright, loosely drawn cartoon illustrations, O'Connor opens with the instant bonding of lad and elephant-sized ceratopsid through a pet store window and closes with a cozy clinch. In between, he shows the triceratopslolling tongue on one end and waggy tail on the otherchasing cars, digging up (dinosaur) bones, eating homework and generally being boy's best friend. Tongue stuffed firmly in cheek, O'Connor lets his premise go positively nuts in the pictures while keeping the text understated for maximum irony. Different dino, same goofy premise and rapturous tone. Young dog lovers will understand perfectly. (Picture book. 5-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
