I'm Bad!

The winning team behind I Stink! and I'm Dirty! trade garbage trucks and bulldozers for another machine-size marauder: a green-and-blue T. rex with an attitude. Are you bad? taunts the Tyrannosaur, uncannily eye-to-eye with the audience. I'm really bad... Got rip-'em-up claws. Got bite-'em-up fangs. Bad breath? Yeaaahhhhhhh. At first, the T. rex fills the full-bleed, tropical spreads in a riot of orange, purple and yellow. A proud bully, he shows off a swivel neck for watchin' my back, then whips around to confront the reader again: Did you just call me Baby Arms? Long as yours, pal. Despite his posturing, this T. rex is a little defensive, and although he stalks prey, he never catches anything. When he throws a weepy tantrum (I need chow right now... owowow), a vertical gatefold pictures a much larger T. rex towering over him. Mom?! I wasn't crying, he chirps as she supplies a dead lizard (Awrighttakeout!). The McMullans play their cards just rightkids will love the joke of the tough guy who still needs his mother. Ages 4-8.

"(May)" Copyright 2008 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.

PreS-Gr 2What could possibly equal the McMullans' audacious garbage truck in I Stink! (2002) and the brazen backhoe in I'm Dirty! (2006, both HarperCollins) for unadulterated attitude? Why, a towering, tough-talking T. rex, of course, complete with "rip-'em-up CLAWS," "bite-'em-up FANGS," and "Bad breath." (And don't even think of making fun of its "baby arms.") This creature is really big, "6-tons-of-MUSCLE-on-the-hustle BIG," with a "BIG empty belly growling for GRUB." Despite the beast's bravado, however, its attempts at catching prey are repeatedly and hilariously foiled. The predator's state of mind moves from arrogance to despair on a wonderfully illustrated psychedelic spread awhirl with forest foliage and easy-to-spot edible critters that the frustrated T. rex can smell but can't find. As the great hunter lies on its back having a tantrum, a vertical fold-out page is lifted to reveal the reptile's even bigger mother, who provides a bit of "takeout" for her grateful child. Vibrant artwork done in bold shades of green, orange, and violet equal the swaggering text in tone, energy, and humor. Whether devoured during a boisterous storytime or consumed independently, children will eat this one up. "Joy Fleishhacker, " School Library Journal

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.