Starred Review ALA Booklist (Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2009)

Starred Review Florian, whose previous picture-book poetry collections have covered the animal kingdom, from dogs and cats to lizards and pollywogs, takes a few evolutionary steps back in this exuberant verse roundup of prehistoric creatures. As usual, Florian's blend of irresistible wordplay and collage art will draw children. The gleeful twists of language evident in the title continue throughout each of the selections spotlighting a different species, including the Triceratops ("Try-scare-a-tops. / Try-wouldn't-want-to-dare-a-tops"). Even as they are delighting in the lines' silliness, children will absorb solid facts, as in a poem that introduces earth's epochs: "The dinosaurs / First lived outdoors / During the time Triassic. / While most died out, / Some came about / Later in the Jurassic." The selections aren't equally strong, and the appended material formation about each dinosaur and a bibliography printed on textured, colored backgrounds that compete with the text. Still, this is a standout title on a perennially popular subject that has inspired surprisingly few poetry collections for kids.

Starred Review for Publishers Weekly

Florian's free-flowing, witty collection of poems and collages about dinosaurs is a giganotosaurus delight—perhaps his best work ever. The poems marry facts with a poet's eye for detail: the Brachiosaurus was “longer than a tennis court” and the Ankylosaurus says, “We like spikes and we like scutes/ (Bony plates we wear as suits).” Small experts will appreciate the “Glossarysaurus” at the end, but the heart of the book is in its humor, the spontaneity of both illustrations and poems, and Florian's slightly askew view of the Mesozoic creatures. A Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton spews cutout images of things a T. rex might actually have eaten, along with a tumble of other things (newspaper clippings, a boot, a building), while the text ends with a great pun (“I find it terrific/ That it's T-rex-tinct”). The tiny (20-inch) Micropachycephalosaurus stares up at a huge display of his enormous name spelled out phonetically, in illuminated caps and as a rhombus. Art and text will encourage aspiring paleontologists and poets to parse these pages again and again. Ages 6–up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Mar.)

School Library Journal Starred Review (Fri May 01 00:00:00 CDT 2009)

K-Gr 3 Set in spreads of dreamy dinosaur art, these 20 playful paleontologic poems overflow with wit and useful information. "What kept the Spinosaurus warm/When it was colder than the norm?/Spines much like a solar panel./(And long underwear of flannel.)" Sandwiched between two general poems entitled "The Age of Dinosaurs" and "The End of Dinosaurs," the entries describe individual species. Each selection includes a helpful pronunciation guide as well as the meaning behind the dinosaur's name. In muted colors with unexpected details, the ethereal artwork differs from the bold, aggressive pictures found in many dinosaur books. Created on paper bags with a variety of media, this collage art expands on the humor found in the verses. Back matter includes a "Glossarysaurus" that provides more information for each dinosaur and details about its extinction, and a page of dinosaur museums and fossil Web sites. This smart marriage of dinosaurs and poetry will delight a wide audience. Julie Roach, Cambridge Public Library, MA

Horn Book (Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2009)

A twenty-year-old birthday card leads seventh grader Sophie St. Pierre and her friends on a hunt for puzzles hidden in the church next to their all-girls' parochial school. As the sleuths solve each puzzle (tied to math, literature, or religion), they close in on a legendary ruby ring. Beil mixes light romance, family issues, and Great Expectations into this engaging mystery.

Kirkus Reviews

In the fine tradition of Jack Prelutsky's Tyrannosaurus Was a Beast , illustrated by Arnold Lobel (1988), a set of dinophile-pleasing verses penned by a poet with a rare knack for wordplay and silly rhymes finds apt visual setting fronting playful images of monsters rearing up from extinction to grin toothily at young viewers. Sandwiched between poems about the Age of Dinosaurs and its sudden end, Florian parades 18 creatures, from Pterosaurs ("They were not ptame. / They were ptenacious— / From the Ptriassic / Pto the Cretaceous.") to T. Rex, then closes with an informative "Glossarysaurus," plus museum and source lists. Spectacularly depicted (as is his frequent custom) on paper bags in crayon and collage, the poet's dinos are easily recognizable despite being freely rendered and, often, semitransparent. Collage elements add to the visual excitement, often to great effect—a skeletal, iPod-sporting T. Rex prepares to chow down on a heap of cut-out dinosaur bits—and always with enormous playfulness. Children fixated on explicit gore may be left unmoved, but to everyone else this will be a dino-delight—especially when read aloud. (Picture book/poetry. 5-10)