English / Canada
Dinos that drive
Levinson, Suzy
(text)
Harbin, Dustin
(illus.)
Toronto: Tundra, [2025]. – [34] p.
ISBN 978-1-77488-523-9
Picture book | Poetry | Vehicle | Dinosaur
Reading age: 4+
White Ravens issue: 2026
Dinosaurs and modern vehicles?! What’s impossible in real life, because – well, duh: extinction! – becomes an irresistible combination in Suzy Levinson’s latest collection of poetry. Her witty verses rife with wordplay reveal that these reptiles are just as fascinated by cars, trucks, trams, and planes as a lot of humans. Readers encounter a giant Brontosaurus zoom past on a motorbike, a large family of rabbit-sized Aquilops chill out in their campervan, and ravenous »car-nivore« T-Rex employ not one, but several schemes using vehicles to get easier access to his next meal, such as: »T. rex drives a taxicab / up and down the street. // His customers don’t know it but / he’s really there to eat.« Cartoonist Dustin Harbin clearly enjoys transforming the dynamic poems into colourful comical pictures that are full of movement, (e)motion, and monstrous fun. Small dinosaur-and-car-enthusiasts will discover a myriad of entertaining details and witty asides and even learn some facts along the way. [CS]