Review by Booklist Review
A giant meteor? A rush of volcanoes? Forget all that. Here, a parent sporting a "Dadasaurus" T-shirt tallies a far more entertaining set of extinction events for his inquiring offspring. "Gallimimus," he claims, "ran with scissors. / Ankylosaurus tipped in their chair," and whereas "Spinosaurus swam after eating," T. rex "didn't change underwear." It gets worse: "Carnotaurus didn't wash their hands, / Compsoagnathus stood in shopping carts," and "Gasosaurus tried to light their--" well, never mind. Young dinophiles, once they stop chortling, will get the point, as they have for the past 40 years from Marc Brown's more sedate Dinosaurs, Beware! A Safety Guide. Points for silliness here, though, and Harney ups the hilarity further with scenes of cartoon dinos dashing by in tighty-whities, gorily scratching bug bites, buried beneath debris because they didn't clean their rooms, or, in the case of the nose-picking Velociraptor, leaving only a tombstone labeled "Death by Booger." That child and parents are last seen hurtling down the museum's staircase doesn't make any of these salutary admonitions less valid.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
When it comes to commanding children's attention about basic health and safety rules, Dyckman (The New Kid Has Fleas) conjures up a dinosaur-based strategy with sky-high stakes. After a museum's dinosaur skeleton prompts a kid, shown with tan skin, to wonder what wiped out the terrible lizards, a bespectacled, light-brown-skinned adult in a "Dadasaurus" T-shirt sidesteps a second caretaker's reasonable answer, declaring, "I know how dinosaurs went extinct!" Kicking off with "Gallimimus ran with scissors," one-sentence cautionary tales follow, from "Triceratops didn't wear a helmet" ("Gives me hat hair!" the scaly red critter insists) to "Compsoagnathus stood in shopping carts" ("Gimme!" shouts the tiny dinosaur as it dives into a dinosaur cereal display). Digital illustrations by Harney ("Smelly" Kelly and His Super Senses) are as over-the-top as the varied assertions, showcasing extravagantly cartooned reptile portraits in scribbly spreads that range from slapstick (Ankylosaurus tipping back in a chair, and off a precipice) to gross-out (Gasosaurus attempting to light a fart). It's an extended dad joke, but one that just might get the point across. Phonetic dinosaur spellings are included throughout. Ages 4--8. Author's agent: Scott Treimel, Scott Treimel NY. Illustrator's agent: Rachel Orr, Prospect Agency. (Apr.)
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Review by Horn Book Review
On a family visit to the natural history museum, a high-energy kid wearing a dinosaur suit asks how the dinosaurs went extinct. Mom's scientific explanation quickly gives way to Dad's imaginative and exhaustive list of silly reasons: Gallimimus "ran with scissors"; Ankylosaurus "tipped in their chair"; Brachiosaurus "swallowed their gum." Dyckman's wacky, over-the-top humor is paired well with Harney's exuberant Photoshop collage illustrations. Dinosaurs fill every frame with improbable hijinks, and hilarious facial expressions abound, from human and dino alike. Mom's exasperation turns to glee when the kid, having heard Dad's long list of bad behaviors that led to extinction, declares, "I AM NEVER DOING ANY OF THOSE THINGS AGAIN!" In a huge bonus for any grownup reading the book aloud with a young dinosaur fan, phonetic pronunciations for each creature are included right on the page. Laura KoenigMarch/April 2023 p.47 (c) Copyright 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
A reimagined version of dinosaur extinction (and a reminder not to run with scissors). Racing up the steps of a museum, a youngster in a dinosaur onesie is excited. Ever curious, the tot asks the age-old question: "How did dinosaurs go extinct anyway?" One of the child's caregivers starts to offer a scientific explanation, but a presumed father (wearing a "Dadasaurus Wrecks" T-shirt) interrupts to expound on the many dangers that dinosaurs faced. "Gallimimus ran with scissors." "Ankylosaurus tipped in their chair." "Spinosaurus swam after eating." "Tyrannosaurus rex didn't change underwear." (Tyrannosaurus is shown wearing their tighty whities, surrounded by flies, breezily asking, "What's the worst that could happen?") Poor Ornithomimus jumps on the bed and flies off to oblivion, while Triceratops doesn't wear a helmet while snowboarding. The silly, rule-breaking dinosaurs all meet the same disastrous fate. Harney's energetic art buoys the drama of the hilarious, untimely ends. There is a bit of comedic blood splatter and lost limbs alongside bubble gum coming out the bottom of a Brachiosaurus. Twenty-three extinction possibilities are explored, with a helpful pronunciation guide for each dinosaur. A nod toward Heinrich Hoffmann's Struwwelpeter (1845) and Edward Gorey's The Gashlycrumb Tinies (1963), this tale of the exaggerated consequences of misbehavior just may have child readers rethinking their own actions. Human characters are tan-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Dinophiles will rejoice; storytimes will be even sillier. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
