Triceratopposite

by Bridget Heos, T. L. McBeth (Illustrator)

Overview

From writer Bridget Heos and illustrator T. L. McBeth, Triceratopposite is the delightful follow–up to Stegothesaurus, featuring a little dinosaur who always says and does the opposite of what his parents want him to do.

Once upon a time, there was a mommy triceratops. "Hi!"

A daddy triceratops. "Hi!"

And a baby triceratopposite. "Bye bye!"

No matter what his mother and father asked him to do, he always said—and did—the opposite. With plenty of humor and inventive wordplay, Triceratopposite is a joyful dinosaur romp, perfect for fans of Dragon Was Terrible and Max's Words.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250834133
Publisher:	Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Publication date:	04/20/2021
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
File size:	16 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Bridget Heos is the prolific author of Stegothesaurus; Mustache Baby; Mustache Baby Meets His Match; I, Fly; and more than one hundred other children’s books. She lives in Kansas.

T. L. McBeth is an author and illustrator living in New York City. He is the creator of Robot in Love and Randy, the Badly Drawn Horse, and the illustrator of Stegothesaurus, Ogilvy, and Ducks!

T. L. McBeth is an author and illustrator living in Indiana. He is the creator of the Randy, the Badly Drawn Horse series and Robot in Love, and the illustrator of Stegothesaurus, Triceratopposite, Ogilvy, and Ducks!

Editorial Reviews

2021-02-09
Justification, or maybe just deserts, for prehistoric or modern young contradictosauruses.

In essence a retread of Stegothesaurus (2018) with an altered setup and a woefully muddled ending, this prehistoric episode pits beleaguered parents against a stubbornly contrary offspring. Since he always says and does the opposite of what Mommy and Daddy Triceratops—identified, in McBeth’s simple cartoon illustrations, respectively by eyelashes and pearls and a necktie—he’s earned the titular moniker. When urged to eat, say, Triceratopposite spits out his dinner leaves; at the hot springs after refusing to get in, he recklessly splashes and dives off rocks until he’s forcibly marched home. That night, as his exhausted parents sleep, he wanders outside and meets a toothy, exaggeratedly humongous T. rex child. A monosyllabic exchange ensues: “Big!” “Little!” “Mean!” “Nice!” “Leave?” “Stay!” “Play?” “Fight!” Out rush the triceraparents, just in time to be horrified by the sight of their offspring engaged in a bit of playful roughhousing. Their shouted “Enemy!” gets the predictable rejoinder “Friend!” and a cozy closing predator-prey hug. “Maybe, in this case, the opposite was better after all.” But a different message is conveyed by the following and final line, in which a hopeful “The Beginning” is crossed out and replaced by an ominous “The End.” If this is an attempt at Jon Klassen–style ambiguity, the illustrator misses it, and readers will too. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 83% of actual size.)

Timeless of premise but not exactly fresh and, at best, inept of execution. (Picture book. 5-7)

Kirkus Reviews