Dinosaur Trouble

King-Smith, Dick. 2008. Dinosaur Trouble. New York: Roaring Book Press.

This short J novel by prolific children's writer, Dick King-Smith was first published in Britain in 2005. Dinosaur Trouble is actually historical fiction mixed with elements of fantasy. A young pterodactyl, Nosy, makes friends with Banty, an apatosaurus - despite bias by both sets of parents against the other species. The personified dinosaur children learn to work together in the common interest of avoiding the fearsome Tyrannosaurus Rex, Hack the Ripper.

This tongue-in-cheek novel fills a gap. Many children are huge dinosaur fans. Other than non-fiction selections and picture books, I have not seen any novels featuring dinosaurs. This one is chock-full of humor, large words (Nosy's mom, Aviatrix, is quite the erudite pterosaur), and factual information about the Jurassic age.

This book is a great choice for fiction-seeking, young dinosaur enthusiasts.

Where's my Mom?

Donaldson, Julia and Axel Scheffler. 2008. Where's my Mom? New York: Dial.


This is another book that has great illustrations and lukewarm text. Where's my Mom? is the story of a small blue butterfly that attempts to help a little monkey find his mother in the jungle. Much like a librarian's reference interview gone awry, the butterfly fails to elicit the correct information.

"She's big!" said the monkey. "Bigger than me." "Bigger than you? Then I've seen your mom. Come, little monkey, come, come, come."


At this point, the butterfly directs the monkey to the elephant. Further mix ups lead the butterfly to assume that the monkey's mother is, among other things, a snake ("her tail coils round trees"), a parrot and a bat. It never occurs to the butterfly that monkey's mom will look like the monkey. We suddenly understand her perspective when she reveals her own children, caterpillars, which do not look like her.


This story has great possibilities, however, some of the rhyming is forced, and I disliked the belittling of the other species. The monkey rejects the butterfly's misguided attempts at reuniting him with his mother, dismissing each of the creatures in turn - the spider is "hairy and fat," the frog is "slimy," the parrot squawks and shrieks.

The illustrations are vibrant and eye-catching. The human-like faces on both the monkey and the butterfly are quite cute and expressive. Children should enjoy the bright colors and of course, the safe and satisfying ending. Overall, though, I think that this book was a missed opportunity for a lesson in acceptance and perspective.

Come Fly With Me

Ichikawa, Satomi. 2008. 2008. Come Fly with Me. New York: Philomel.

This is the story of a stuffed dog and a wooden plane that decide to take flight from their balcony to go "Somewhere." Woggy and Cosmos travel through the skies, encountering birds, clouds and rain on their way to the "White Dome" that they can view in the distance.

The paintings of Paris are beautiful and the expressions of Woggy, the doggy, are particularly endearing, but the story was not engaging. Although the illustrations of Paris are beautiful, particularly the view from Montmartre of a rainbow over the Eiffel Tower, it is disappointing that the reader is never aware that the story takes place in France. Only the distant Eiffel Tower in the story's conclusion offers a clue. Even the author's note makes no mention of the "White Dome", Montmartre, or its significance in Parisian history - a pity.

The story line is perhaps a bit too simple, " A magnificent city and a beautiful rainbow!' says Cosmos. 'What a surprise.' "The best part of going Somewhere,' says Woggy, 'is surprise.' 'No, no,' says Cosmos. 'The best part of going Somewhere is sharing it with friends.'

Use this title for its beautiful illustrations or for use in a themed storytime about planes or France. For a great storyline, choose another book.

Goosebumps: HorrorLand: Revenge of the Living Dummy

Stine, R.L. 2008. Goosebumps: Horrorland: Revenge of the Living Dummy. Scholastic.

Fans of R.L. Stine should be thrilled. Goosebumps Horrorland is the brand new series from children's literature's "master of fright." In this first installment, Revenge of the Living Dummy, the plot may be an old one - a living, evil, ventriloquist's dummy (remember the Twilight Zone?), but it will likely be a new source of horror to the younger generation.

The book is in three parts, two individual stories, "Revenge of the Living Dummy" and "Enter HorrorLand," followed by Fear File #1 - the fictional contents of the reader's manila folder on HorrorLand. While the Revenge of the Living Dummy can be read as a stand-alone story, it is connected to "Enter HorrorLand." "Enter HorrorLand," it appears, will be a story told in serial installments.

A glance ahead at the second book in the series shows that it will follow the same format of three parts. The first story in the book can stand alone. The second is a story located in the diabolical theme park, HorrorLand. The third section is the reader's Fear File, which continues to grow with new maps and information.

Horror novels are not my cup of tea, but a legion of young readers has grown up on R.L. Stine. Fans have never stopped requesting Goosebumps books. I think these will be popular.

A footnote on R.L. Stine - I had the opportunity to see R.L. Stine interact with his young fans at a library book signing. In spite of the seemingly unending stream of young fans, he gave each child his undivided attention, never growing impatient or curt. I was impressed.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules

Kinney, Jeff. 2008. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules. New York: Amulet.

This follow-up to the best-selling Diary of a Wimpy Kid is hilarious! Jeff Kinney absolutely channels the mind of a middle-school boy. (For the mom, I think he may be channeling me!)
It's hard to say what's funnier - the text or the sketches.

Imagine the scene at Greg's friend Rowley's house as the boys try out their new secret language during dinner, the sketch shows Greg and Rowley giggling at the dinner table with a thoroughly angry Rowley's dad. The thought bubbles read:

YOUR-PA DAD-PA SMELLS-PA LIKE-PA A WOMAN-PA! HEE HEE HEE!

followed by:

"But Rowley's dad must have cracked our code, because I ended up getting sent home before dessert. And I haven't been invited to spend the night at Rowley's ever since."

Rodrick Rules follows Greg through his home and school adventures, but the underlying theme of this installment in Greg Heffley's adventures is brotherly love. Greg's older brother, Rodrick, may not be a gem, but he's family - and that's what really matters.

This book is laugh-out-loud funny.