How To Raise a Dinosaur

How To Raise a Dinosaur. Natasha Wing. Illustrated by Pablo Bernasconi. 2010. October 2010. Running Press. 24 pages.

Are you thinking of getting a pet?
Then you've come to the right place.
Picking the perfect pet can be perpetually perplexing.
There are so many choices!
There are...
mice and horses and...
cats and dogs and...
snakes and gerbils and rats and lizards and birds and...need I go on?
Yes I do! Because do I have a pet for you!

If you're going to get a pet dinosaur, you're going to need to know how to take care of it. This book by Natasha Wing may just help you out. It tells you exactly what you need to know about pet dinosaurs--how to avoid some unpleasant situations, how to avoid getting eaten--for example!

There are many books about pets, many funny books about pets. How does this one compare? This one is playful and spirited. I loved all the flaps! I did. It made for an interactive experience. Little hands like flaps--like the surprises they contain. I am happy to recommend this one.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

The Seeing Stick

Yolen, Jane. 2009. The Seeing Stick. Illustrated by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini. Running Press.

I just have to say that I was amazed by the illustrations. I mean Jane Yolen is still Jane Yolen. But wow, these illustrations! The book would not have been anywhere close to the same without these pictures! Here's how it opens:

Once in the ancient walled citadel of Peking there lived an emperor who had only one daughter, and her name was Hwei Ming. Now this daughter had carved ivory combs to smooth back her long black hair. Her tiny feet were encased in embroidered slippers, and her robes were woven of the finest silks. But rather than making her happy, such possessions made her sad. For Hwei Ming was blind, and all the beautiful handcrafts in the kingdom brought her no pleasure at all. Her father was also sad that his only daughter was blind, but he could not cry for her. He was the emperor after all, and had given up weeping over such things when he ascended the throne. Yet still he had hope that one day Hwei Ming might be able to see. So he resolved that if someone could help her, such a person would be rewarded with a fortune in jewels.

Can Hwei Ming be made to see? Is there a miracle worker out there for her? What can one old man with a wooden stick--even if he calls it a seeing stick--give to the greatest in the land?

As the story unfolds, we go from black and white (and gray) to these incredibly vivid, bright, majestic, rich color spreads. The change is subtle. It doesn't happen all at once, it starts with small shadings here and there. But before you know it the story (through the illustrations) is jumping off the page.

I enjoyed this one.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers