Dino-Boarding (Dino-Sports)

PreS-Gr 2--This entry in the dino-sports books focuses on all kinds of boards: surf, skate, and snow. Dinosaurs enthusiastically compete in all three sports, hand out the prizes, and then move on to swimming season in a clever teaser for a potential new series entry. The rhyming text is unforced, energetic, and peppered with sports terminology. There are so many competitors that it's hard to keep track of them, but it hardly matters, as it's action, not character development, that is the point here. The colorful, computer-generated illustrations are busy, exciting, and full of motion--a good match for the text. A female dinosaur competes and wins the surfboarding competition, and all of the dinosaurs display good sportsmanship and proper use of their equipment. In fact, readers get a "Hooray for helmets!" when Iguano falls off his skateboard. This is a fun celebration of sports and dinosaurs with broad kid appeal.--Heidi Estrin, Congregation B'nai Israel, Boca Raton, FL

Wheeler and Gott appear to be in zero danger of running out of athletic competitions for dinosaurs to go head to head in (not to mention crest to spike). In this seventh book, Gott's chunky, angular dinos catch waves on short and long boards, ride the half-pipe on skateboard, and show off snowboard tricks on the slopes. Wheeler channels her best X-Games patter as carnivores and herbivores do battle: "Dino skate fans look alert./ Those Ptero Twins are goin' vert!/ Twin One rolls right up the ramp./ Grabs the coping like a clamp." Just right for budding skate and surf bros. Ages 5-9. (Sept.)