A young dinosaur, living a comfortably suburban lifestyle, eats his way through the alphabet in this genial ABC picture book. Each page (except for the double-page spread for W), features a new letter and a new setting for the hero, who in one scene wears footed pajamas and a bib, but in another operates a barbecue grill on his own. Oh well, who can say what's age-appropriate for the young of an extinct species? In any case, young humans will enjoy little T-rex's enormous gusto, plowing through a variety of foods, although U upset his tummy and slows him down for the denouement. On a typical page, F was feast finds him forking down French fries, fried chicken, and the letter F itself, while fruit salad, fish, fried chicken, and fudge wait to be devoured. Heavy black lines define the cartoonlike drawings, brightened with a colorful palette emphasizing shades of green, purple, and orange. Fun for alphabetically inclined preschoolers. (Reviewed April 1, 2000)

A dinosaur preschooler "loved his ABC's so much, he ate them up," thus giving readers a chance to join him as he munches his way through a colorful alphabetical smorgasbord. The bright and busy pages contain just enough items beginning with each letter for young children to have fun pointing them out without becoming overwhelmed. A list of the objects in the back of the book gives further hints.

PreS-Gr 3-Using his characteristic thick-lined cartoons, Most incorporates the ever-popular dinosaur motif into this concept book in which an alphabet-loving T-Rex eats each letter in turn. Using mostly adjectives instead of nouns, the author describes the qualities of each letter as T-Rex devours it: "I was irresistible, "J was juicy." The accompanying illustrations highlight the ravenous reptile as he feasts, surrounded by foods and objects that begin with the featured letter. While readers will enjoy spotting these items, some of the adjectives will be challenging for young children, such as "luscious" and "quenching." Additionally, the unnamed objects are sometimes hard to identify, such as "quart jars" for the letter Q. The author does provide an appendix of "Some extra things to look for," arranged alphabetically, which will help children to make the connection between letter and word when the text does not. Purchase for fans of Most's work or of Jean Marzollo's "I Spy" titles (Scholastic) more than for the alphabet concept.-Holly Belli, Bergen County Cooperative Library System, West Caldwell, NJ Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.