Horn Book
In this Dinotrux sequel, the Dinotrux are sick of being confined in a museum, so they break through the wall and ravage the town--eating cars, moving houses, and drinking from swimming pools. They're ordered to attend school to "learn new ways," and reading calms the savage prehistoric truck-beasts. Boisterous crosshatched illustrations artfully depict the monters' rage, then their playful tenderness.
Kirkus Reviews
The prehistoric metal monsters dug up and introduced in Dinotrux! (2009) break out--twice!--in this smashing (crashing, roaring, grinding) sequel. Exploding through the dino-museum's wall in the wake of a particularly stressful Kindergarten Day, enraged Tyrannosaurus Trux rolls off to climb a skyscraper. Meanwhile, hungry Garbageadon chows down on local traffic, a pair of Velocitractors plow up Main Street and Cementosaurus dumps a heaping "present" in the town square. Enough! declares the mayor, firmly dispatching the miscreant mega vehicles to school to learn better behavior. Further chaos threatens when they burst out again, though, taking along the children who have introduced them to the wonders of (truck) books and other reading. Towering massively atop heavy-duty tires, with wide, headlight eyes and toothy maws agape, Gall's brawny beasts make modern construction vehicles look like jumped-up SmartCars. But even the most brutish dinotrux can find a place in today's world, as the final playground scene suggests. Young fans of all things big and noisy will make trax for this dynamic dino-diversion. (Picture book. 6-8)
Publishers Weekly
(Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)
The Dinotrux-s boisterous second adventure takes them from prehistory into the present day. Fed up with being stuck in a museum, they escape and unleash their vengeance: Dumplodocus carries off houses, Septisaurus drinks an entire swimming pool, and Cementosaurus dumps a gushing, gray -present- in the town square. After a reprimanding from the mayor, the Dinotrux are sent to school and learn how to put their energy to better use. Gall-s
School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 1 The monster vehicles, cleverly imagined ancestors of modern trucks and construction vehicles from Gall's Dinotrux (Little, Brown, 2009), return for another romp. The first installment left off with them being placed "into a great museum." Now, having been poked, prodded, and otherwise abused by the museum's young visitors, they have grown resentful. After another rough Kindergarten Day, Tyrannosaurus Trux loses his temper and breaks out, leading the Dinotrux to wreak havoc throughout the city. To quell further rampages and civilize the prehistoric machines, the mayor orders the miscreants to attend school. Despite some additional shenanigans, the Dinotrux are eventually tamed through the power of literacy. They discover "some books they just couldn't put down" and learn to get along with children in the mildly contrived but altogether satisfactory turn of events. Dramatic, full-page illustrations brim with the energy of these fierce machines. Humorous details abound as wellsome subtle, like a display case labeled "immature male" with a small Dinotrux inside, and some more obvious, like the Cementosaurus leaving "a present in the town square." A fun follow-up, appealing to old and new fans alike. Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY