Cretaceous Sluggers: Dino-Baseball by Lisa Wheeler

THREE UP, THREE DOWN. NO ONE SCORED.

BASEBALL FANS ARE GETTING BORED.

T-REX IS A GO-TO GUY! WIND IT UP, PIVOT, AND LET IT FLY.

STEGO RUMBLES DOWN THE LINE. COMPY CALLS "THIS ONE IS MINE!"

GLOVES THE BASEBALL, THROWS HIM OUT. THAT'S WHAT BASEBALL'S ALL ABOUT!

What's better than a summer baseball game? How about a battle royal between those kings of the Cretaceous, the rock'em, sock'em, sluggin' dinos, featuring those rivals of the era, the meat-eating Rib-Eye Reds vs. the plant-loving Green Sox.

In Lisa Wheeler's Dino-Baseball ) (Carolrhoda Books, 2010) it's a prehistoric play-by-play down at Jurassic Park as T-Rex goes toe to toe with Triceratops and Raptor tries to trounce Troodon in a slugfest that could have been heard all the way back to the Tertiary period.

GREEN SOX NEED TO CHANGE THE SCORE,
THEIR ONLY HOPE, APATOSAUR.
HE'S AT THE PLATE,
HE SETS HIS STANCE.
STRIKE ONE, STRIKE TWO!
ONE MORE CHANCE!

The fans go wild! Who will win the battle of the big beasts? Well, when these two teams clash, it's always a monster mash. Wheeler and her illustrator Barry Gott know how to let the tension build until the thrilling climax, as they proved in their earlier dino-sports thrillers, Dino-Hockey (Carolrhoda Picture Books) and just right for World Cup time, Dino-Soccer. Wheeler knows how to pitch those Cretaceous couplets with the best of the rhyme team, while Barry Gott's robust raptors burst with prehistoric power. And on their final pages of their latest contest, there's a hint that there is yet another Jurassic showdown, this time on the basketball court, in the works.

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P.S.: Be sure to fill out your saurian scorecard with the full scientific names of these dynamic dinos of the diamond displayed on the Jumbotron on page one!