ALA Booklist
"Being a dinosaur is hard," admits the striped, wide-eyed, toothy dinosaur narrator. He's too big for his school desk, his gym clothes are too small, and playing hide-and-seek is a challenge. Worse, his "RAWR!" is terrifying to others. But as he explains, he's really friendly and helpful ether retrieving a ball from a roof or serving as crossing guard. Yes, he may be big, but he insists there's nothing to fear, including his "RAWR," which has a friendly meaning. Throughout, the dinosaur's attempts to soften and debunk his scary reputation are complemented by simply-rendered, bright-hued cartoonish illustrations accompanied by short phrases in a handwritten-style font. However, the audience at whom the dinosaur's exhortations are aimed is unclear (the somewhat generic-faced kids all smile in his presence), and while the book, including its cover featuring a soft-textured, puffy upright dino, seems targeted toward younger ones, they may not fully grasp the humor (like inadvertently crushing a playground slide). Still, the message of looking beyond appearances is a helpful one.
Horn Book
(Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2014)
Being a dinosaur is hard
Kirkus Reviews
Fronted by a padded cloth dinosaur, a whiny monologue on being big that will likely go begging for an audience. "Being a dinosaur is hard," the narrator--depicted in the very simple cartoons as a towering, popeyed, green theropod--begins. Why? Everyone else is shorter, furniture is too small, and roaring, toothy giants have a scary reputation. Really though, "I am careful. / I am helpful. // I have good table manners." Hugeness can be a plus in sports or on the playground, too. Besides, knowing that "RAAWWRRR!" just means "Hello" in Dinosaur, no one should ever be afraid to meet one. Right? Toddlers drawn to the strokable cover and the style of art aren't likely to be body-conscious enough to absorb the reassuring message, and school-age children of all sizes will be put off by the volume's babyish look. Also, though the dino's big teeth are somewhat rounded off rather than pointy, its efforts to seem inoffensive don't come off as all that convincing--particularly to readers who have met, say, the foxes who are so "helpful" to Chicken Little and the Gingerbread Boy or Jon Klassen's deadpan predators. Heavily earnest and as mushy of approach as it is of cover. (Picture book. 3-5)
Publishers Weekly
(Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)
It-s hard to be a dinosaur in a human world. -I am bigger than every kid in my class,- this not-so-terrible T. Rex explains. -And I am not very good at