Stomp and Chomp: My First Book of Dinosaurs

K-Gr 3--Award-winning children's poet and author, Mole, brings dinosaurs to life with his lyrical and rhyming verse that includes interesting facts and pronunciation guides for about 30 different dinosaurs. The book is divided into four sections: "Meet the Dinosaurs," "Eat or Be Eaten," "Dinosaur Families," and "The End. Or Is It?" Included are favorites like Tyrannosaurus Rex and Velociraptor, as well as lesser known dinosaurs such as Baryonyx (Bair-ee-ON-iks), "Swift sprinter/ Tail flicker/ River watcher/ Quick dasher/ Fish grabber/ Flesh ripper/ Best hunter/ Gets dinner!" and Coelophysis (SEE-lo-FIE-sis), "You're a slowpoke and I'm so faaaaast./ If we had a race, you would come in laaaaast." Exuberant poems are aptly matched by bold and dynamic artwork. Hunt uses a variety of mixed media to brightly illustrate full-page dinosaurs in all their larger-than-life glory. The book closes with a dinosaur time line as well as a description of how fossils are found and an invitation, "Maybe the next incredible discovery/ will show us that something in this book isn't true./ Maybe it will be found by somebody reading this book./ Somebody like YOU!" Pair this with older favorite dinosaur poetry titles, including Jack Prelutsky's classic, Tyrannosaurus Was a Beast and Douglas Florian's, Dinothesaurus: Prehistoric Poems and Paintings. VERDICT A great introduction to dinosaurs for young children. The lively text and colorful illustrations make it a wonderful read-aloud that will engage young readers and ignite their curiosity about these prehistoric creatures. A welcome addition for homes, schools, and libraries.--Carole Phillips