Some Dinosaurs Are Small

by Charlotte Voake, Charlotte Voake (Illustrator)

Overview

The concept of size is relative — and takes on prehistoric proportions — in a funny and reassuring tale from a maven of children’s books.

Some dinosaurs are small and slow. They take their time in the prehistoric jungle, collecting fruits and leaves and using their tiny teeth to munch them. Some dinosaurs are big and fast. With huge teeth and claws, they steal food from small dinosaurs, and they’re always hungry for more. So when three big dinosaurs come across one small one, what — or who — can save the little plant-eater? Beautifully drawn and brightly colored, Charlotte Voake’s imaginative introduction to the concept of size brims with visual humor and culminates in a sweet surprise ending.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536209365
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	08/04/2020
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 10.90(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Charlotte Voake is the author-illustrator of Ginger, which was short-listed for the Kate Greenaway Medal, Ginger Finds a Home, and Hello Twins, which was named a New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Children’s Book of the Year. She is also the illustrator of Say It! by Charlotte Zolotow, Insect Detective by Steve Voake, Caterpillar, Caterpillar by Vivian French, and The Things That I LOVE about TREES by Chris Butterworth. Charlotte Voake lives in Surrey, England.

Editorial Reviews

★ 08/03/2020

Loosely sketched ink and watercolor illustrations enliven this quiet picture book, which humorously depicts dinosaurs' different sizes and shapes. A tiny, smiling green dino swings a yellow basket the same size as it, harvesting pineapples and pears to consume using "tiny flat teeth for munching through fruit and leaves." Tension mounts over the next few pages, however, as a trio of larger tyrannosaurids spot the small dino and give chase. Voake takes a bit of creative license regarding the food chain—the trio uses their "huge pointy teeth and sharp claws" to "take food from little dinosaurs"—before the narrative comes to a surprising, gratifying close. Text size coordinates with the size of each dinosaur, and Voake's pacing of both narrative and art is well matched. A fun romp for the youngest dinosaur fans. Ages 3–7. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

Loosely sketched ink and watercolor illustrations enliven this quiet picture book, which humorously depicts dinosaurs' different sizes and shapes...Voake's pacing of both narrative and art is well matched. A fun romp for the youngest dinosaur fans.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

The well-paced text steadily and deliberately drives the image-drawn action forward, making for an engaging read-aloud that’s sure to appeal to dinosaur lovers and their friends...An inventive idea cleverly executed.
—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

★ 09/01/2020

PreS-Gr 2—There is everything to recommend this satisfying dinosaur tale. The art is gorgeous, art placement is perfect, the story is both scary and sweet, and kids are sure to love it. Some dinosaurs are small, and this little protagonist is going about the day gathering low lying fruits and leaves. As the title infers, some are small so there must be others that are big. Sure enough, in the background readers start to see hints in the art of big feet standing ominously nearby. The little dinosaur scurries off towards home when his basket is full, but it seems like he is weaving in and out of huge dinosaur legs. They are there with their pointy teeth and sharp claws and they are hungry. They are ready to pounce but the little dinosaur drops his basket and takes to the tree limbs to elude the giants below. The big dinosaurs give up their hunt for him abruptly because he runs to Mommy and she is an enormous Brontosaurus! This story is built on the inevitability of the food chain and also the safety that little ones find in their mother's presence. VERDICT The dinosaur crowd will welcome this addition to the shelf, and parents and teachers will love reading it to them again and again. A must-buy for all libraries.—Joan Kindig, James Madison Univ., Harrisonburg, VA

School Library Journal

2020-04-08
A dinosaur story of family and size.

This surprising picture book uses illustrations that slowly build in tension to create a sense of high drama paired with simple, informative text that, on its own, says very little. “Some dinosaurs are small,” it starts, with a wee green reptile happily gathering pineapples in a basket. “They have tiny flat teeth for munching through fruit and leaves,” it goes on, with the small protagonist plucking a pear. But the next page, which says merely that “Some dinosaurs are BIG,” starts to introduce anxiety as enormous yellow and orange legs and tails flank the much smaller dino. The following page introduces two menacing theropods who, accordingly, “have huge pointy teeth and sharp claws.” Readers learn additional basic facts about the personalities and habits of the bigger dinosaurs as they steal fruit from the little one, who at first peeks over its shoulder anxiously and then bolts away. But luckily, the last dinosaur readers meet, who is “simply… /ENORMOUS,” turns out to be the teeny one’s mother, and she scares away the relatively puny carnivores. The well-paced text steadily and deliberately drives the image-drawn action forward, making for an engaging read-aloud that’s sure to appeal to dinosaur lovers and their friends.

An inventive idea cleverly executed. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews