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?