Noodleman, Penelope ate William Omoto again!” The whole class is afraid of her, except Walter, the goldfish. A sad and lonely dino trudges home to some advice from her parents, but the temptation the next day is just too great. Penelope’s efforts to make friends are unimpressive to the kids (and will have readers in stitches!). Penelope’s classmates, covered in disgusting spit, express their displeasure with hugely expressive faces and postures. Noodleman forces her to spit them out and reiterates the titular rule.
And “children are delicious,” so she eats them. But then the orange-and-white dino, who’s clad in pink overalls, is taken aback to find that all her classmates are children-the human kind. Higgins’ starts out as most back-to-school books do: A nervous youngster equipped with an awesome new backpack and hearty lunch worries about her classmates. Rex named Penelope starts school, she learns some lessons about her classmates most importantly, they are not for eating. Still, this young boy’s imagination is a powerful force for helping him deal with life, something that should be true for all children but sadly isn’t. The illustrations, done in pastel pencil and digital color, again make masterful use of white space and page turns, although this tale is not nearly as funny or tongue-in-cheek as Oliver and His Alligator (2013), nor is its message as clear and immediately accessible to children. A final wordless spread depicts all the children sitting on rocks, expressions gleeful, wondering, waiting, hopeful. “But when Oliver found his rock… // Oliver imagined many adventures // with all his friends!” This last is on a double gatefold that opens to show the children enjoying the creature’s slippery curves. Even considering Schmid’s scribbly style, readers can almost see the wheels turning in his head as he ponders the girl and whether or not to give up his solitary play. A classmate’s yell brings him back to reality, where readers see him sitting on top of a rock. Their adventures include sharing treats, sailing the seas and going into outer space. “When Oliver found his egg…” on the playground, mint-green backgrounds signifying Oliver’s flight into fancy slowly grow larger until they take up entire spreads Oliver’s creature, white and dinosaurlike with orange polka dots, grows larger with them. Oliver, of first-day-of-school alligator fame, is back, imagining adventures and still struggling to find balance between introversion and extroversion. Readers will delight in this latest dino pets installment and wonder where the dinosaurs might go for their next calamitous adventure. Watching the little boy’s pride turn to chagrin as each successive pet causes mayhem and destruction is as much fun as the chaos itself. Kendall’s artwork glows with deadpan realism, taking this imaginative tale to a whole new dimension. For teachers, this holds lots of spark for a creative-writing lesson…and a cautionary warning against holding a classroom pet day. Our soccer balls / were not the same.” A final spread of dinosaur facts describes the dinosaur that fits each superlative and explains that what scientists know about these prehistoric creatures changes with new discoveries and findings. But the tallest dino wrecks the bus, the widest crushes the lunchroom table, the smartest eats all the math tests and the spikiest? “At recess time / we played a game. Plourde’s playful verse follows the little boy as he repeatedly attempts to bring just the right dinosaur to school for pet day. The little boy from Dino Pets (2007) finally gets to show his menagerie off to his class, but will school ever be the same again?
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