How to Be a T. Rex by Ryan North (review)

Sal wants to be a T. rex. T. rexes are big and loud, they do what they want, and they don't care about the rules, which is definitely better than being a little girl who often goes unnoticed. When she becomes a T. rex, it's initially great: Sal does what she wants and roars at everyone. Unfortunately, she also can't wear her favorite shoes, or be nice to her friends, or say anything that doesn't involve roaring. Ultimately she realizes that being Sal is also pretty awesome, especially when she teaches her friends how to be dinosaurs, too. Sal's chatty narration makes this story of learning to embrace yourself—dino and human qualities alike—a humorous and thoughtful title. Brown-skinned Sal and her diverse cast of schoolmates are expressive cartoonish figures on bright backgrounds, with large blocky text in a marker-like font. The book has a graphic-novel feel, with full-bleed spreads interspersed with more closely framed images, vignettes, and comic-book effects, its busy pages making it somewhat better suited to independent reading than reading aloud. Expect a lot of T. rexes on the playground after reading this book, and use it to help kids find self-confidence that comes from within (in the form of a T. rex, of course).