DINOSAUR FARM!

Dinos plow, fertilize, harvest,
herd, pick, pull, pack, and build on the farm.

The prehistoric crew from Dinosaur
Pirates! (2017) and its predecessors fire up the farm machinery and roar
off to tend fields and livestock, put up fence posts, lay down fertilizer, and,
when the time comes, gather in a bountiful harvest of lambs and piggies, fruits
and veggies to display at a “farm show.” To jagged lines of alliterative text
that are big on sound effects—“Dirty dinosaurs digging, digging up the muddy
carrots. The muddy carrots to be washed and weighed. Clatter! Clatter! Clatter!”—Dale
pairs rural scenes crowded with modern farm animals seemingly unfazed by the
more or less human-sized dinos who, many sporting impressive dentifrices as
well as a dazzling array of skin colors and patterns, are hard at work all
around. It’s a little odd to see relatively tiny, toothy theropods operating
relatively large farm equipment, but once readers become used to it, it’s hard
not to get a chuckle out of two reptilian farmers trading waves as they till
their neighboring fields. Two little pigs sneak out of the pen in the first
full scene, and readers will enjoy spying them in unlikely places in the
subsequent ones. Labeled galleries fore and aft identify both the 10 dinosaurs
and the nine types of harvesters and other heavy machines that feature in the
illustrations.

Both dinophiles and lovers of big
machines will dig this natural storytime companion to Frann Preston-Gannon’s Dinosaur
Farm (2014). (Picture book. 3-6)