Great Expectations! I Wanna Be A Great BIG Dinosaur! by Heath McKenzie

"MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THE WHOLE WORLD, I WANT TO BE A GREAT BIG DINOSAUR!"

A precocious preschooler has big aspirations! And it fortunately this must be his lucky day, a terrible Tyrannosaurus Rex appears to be his mentor! Gasp!

"YOU WANT MORE THAN ANYTHING TO A BE A GREAT BIG DINOSAUR?

FIRST, YOU MUST . . .

ROAR!"

And once the boy masters roaring, his tutor demonstrates. . .

"STOMPING!"

Roaring and stomping are great fun, and the boy and his visitor have a good go at both. But then the T. Rex brings up another required behavior.

"EAT!

LOTS OF MEAT!"

His mentor demonstrates, devastating the provisions in the fridge.

"JUST MEAT?"

The boy tries to distract his dinosaur pal with some alternative and less carnivorous activities--eating pizza, reading, soccer, video games? To his dismay the dino takes to all of them, He has a great time, without a single roar or stomp! The kid can't even get him to stop gaming. He suggests that maybe it's time for his guest to go home for dinner.

But T. Rex looks heartbroken. Sadly he confesses that his secret wish, He just wants to be...

A LITTLE BOY!

And in Heath McKenzie's I Wanna Be a Great Big Dinosaur (Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky Press, 2015), there's soon a compromise in the works. Romping, stomping, and roaring is fun for kids, but a T. Rex needs a little variety in his life, too, and a little ice cream, a good read, and a bit of fun playing pirate or spaceman is a nice change of pace for a sauropod! Heath McKenzie's ebullient illustrations add to the fun in this meeting-of-the-minds playdate which offers exercise for the imagination along with plenty of active playacting.

Pair this one with McKenzie's equally exuberant wish-fulfillment fantasy on the distaff side, My Rules for Being a Pretty Princess. (See my 2015 review here.)

The Customer Is Always Right! Down At the Dino Wash Deluxe by Tim Myers

..THIS JOB'S NO PICNIC.

YOU GOTTA KNOW THE CUSTOMERS!

NO TWO DINOSAURS ARE ALIKE.

The Dino Wash Deluxe is doing business! Dinosaurs are lined up to get their scales scrubbed shiny, and our little proprietor knows just how to keep them all happy. Ankylosaurus' many knobby protrusions require detail work. Rinsing the top of Pachycephalosaurus' big bald head necessitates a long ladder. Spinosaurus' twenty-foot-tall spines require really sudsy scrubbing and polishing. And don't even ask about all the crevices to clean on a finicky Stegosaurus!

But our little car wash manager keeps a nervous eye out for one down and dirty customer that his clients report is in town--Tyrannosaurus Rex!  He's one customer you really want to leave happy!

And then there he is, demanding the dino wash deluxe.

"GIVE ME THE WORKS" HE SNAPS.

But when our little dino scrubber comes forward with his shampoo, the T. Rex gets very testy. Could it be that this big guy is afraid of a few suds in the eye?

"IT STINGS!" HE WHIMPERS. 

How do you shampoo a Tyrannosaurus Rex? Very carefully, in Tim Myers' dandy Down at the Dino Wash Deluxe (Sterling, 2013). Myers' illustrations are big and bold and bright, with each scaly critter portrayed comically and yet authentically, with a thumbnail drawing and summary of each dinosaur appended for young dinosaur scholars. Pair this one with any of Jane Yolen's and Mark Teague's classic How Do Dinosaurs... books, such as  How Do Dinosaurs Clean Their Room? for a clean sweep of a double dino treat.

Size Matters: I'm Big! by Kate and Jim McMullan

YOU'RE LOOKING AT A SUPER-SORRY SAUROPOD.

WOKE UP LATE.

MY HERD WAS GONE.

SOMEONE COULD HAVE NUDGED ME.

Sure, sauropods are BIG. Really BIG. But there's a reason they hang around in herds, and when our young sauropod wakes up to find the sun high and himself alone, he is right to see the gravity of the situation.

But our sauropod has some advantages. First he stretches tall above the trees and looks around for his gang.

CHECK THE NECK! FIVE STORIES HIGH!

THE WEATHER HERE? SUNNY WITH A CHANCE OF...

PTEROSAURS! AWWKKK!

And it's not just those sky zoomers that give him the shakes. It seems like there are some carnivores around for whom his size might just mean a bigger meal.

YIKES! PREDATORS! WHAT DO I DO? RUN?

Well, no. The best the apprentice sauropod can do is galumph along in a slow lumber.

WHAT DO I DO? HIDE?

HOLE NOT DEEP ENOUGH! ROCK WAY TOO SMALL! CAN'T HIDE!

WHAT DO I DO? FIGHT?

FANGS? CLAWS? SPIKES? WHO'S GOT 'EM? NOT ME!

It's too late now to evolve all those protective characteristics. Our little saur has to use what he's got, and what he's got is something special.

I'M BIG!

Kate and Jim McMullan's latest in their rib-tickling series of superlative heroes (see their earlier I'm Bad!, and I'm Dirty!) is their equally funny I'm Big! (Balzer & Bray, 2010), in which their superlative-sized young hero learns that standing up to the bad guys and going with what you've got is the best defense. The McMullan's bright pink, purple, and blue hero finds out that that he's got the right stuff after all, and when he finally rejoins his family and friends, he's got just the hint of a swagger in his galumph!

Familiar dinosaurs fill the prehistoric landscape, and young readers will find a few super-sized snickers and chuckles here as well. The McMullans' other protagonists, as typlified by their odoriferous but industrious and honorable little garbage truck in I Stink!, all proudly proclaim, like Popeye, "I yam what I yam," and do what they do best in a way which will resonate with kids while giving them a few galumphing giggles along the way.

Baddest Guy In Cretaceous Town: I'm Bad! by Kate and Jim McMullan

Are you bad?

I'm REALLY bad. Scare-the-tails-off-all-the-other-dinosaurs BAD!

Got rip-'em-up CLAWS. Got bite-'em-up FANGS!

Bad breath? Y-E-A-A-A-H-H-H-H-H!

This T. Rex isn't afraid to boast like Pecos Bill and romp and stomp like Paul Bunyan's blue ox Babe. After all, he's got all the right stuff to scare the hair right off all the "fuzzies" he aims to prey upon. As he brags, he's got "a swivel neck, got broad-jump legs, and triple digit kick-a-whomper STOMPERS."

And don't you dare make sport of his BABY ARMS either. He'll set you straight in a hurry!

"Did you just call me BABY ARMS? Longer than YOURS, pal--20 times stronger.

Think about it. Six-tons-of muscle-on-the-hustle!"

The only problem is that the feathered tweets fly up just beyond his jaws; critters with bigger drumsticks whoosh and boing away just ahead of his grasp.

The prey just won't stay so this dinosaur can score!

"Ooof! I HATE fast food!" he roars in frustration. "What are YOU lookin' at, FUZZIES?"

A hungry T. Rex is not a pretty sight, and our big guy is reduced to pitching a Cretaceous temper tantrum, screaming "I NEED CHOW--RIGHT NOW0WOW!

Just as things look bleak, we lift a gatefold flap to reveal a REALLY BIG DINO--it's Mama T. Rex, with a tasty piece of prey just in time to save Junior from a monstrous case of the munchies! With his tummy rumbles soothed, our not-so-big guy cuddles up sleepily with a grateful "I love my mom!"

Co-authors of the award-winning tale of a proud garbage truck, I Stink!, a bodacious tugboat, I'm Mighty!, and a super power shovel in I'm Dirty!, in I'm Bad! Kate and Jim McMullan have come up with a great read-aloud and an appealing early reading choice for kids who like dinosaurs and love to see bad guys enjoy a bit of, shall we say, the Triple A Treatment--Appropriate Attitude Adjustment.