T. Rex Trick-or-Treats

K-Gr. 2. Kids trying to avoid going as Harry or Hermione (again!) on Halloween will relate to this seasonal standout, as light as its Tyrannosaurus rex protagonist is massive. Determined to be the scariest trick-or-treater in his neighborhood, in which humans evidently live shoulder-to-shoulder with anthropomorphic dinosaurs, T. Rex frets when pals Diplodocus, Stegosaurus, and Iguanodon preempt his most frightening costume ideas. In the end, he realizes that his mouthful of "long sharp pointy teeth!" and generally menacing physique require no disguise to be scary. Grambling's pared-down language, mouth-tickling adjectives, and repeating words and story patterns are right on target for her audience, members of which aren't likely to mind that this most predictable of trick-or-treat reversals is somewhat overused. Davis neatly manages potential anxieties surrounding the dinos' intentions, outfitting his dinosaurs with disarming googly eyes and overbites and portraying the shrieking, fleeing human trick-or-treaters as homely and gullible. Children's sympathies will lie squarely with the reptiles to the end. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved