Dinosaur Kisses by David Ezra Stein (review)

Dinah the dinosaur hatches from her egg and immediately begins trying out her pudgy body: "She tried this . . . STOMP! and that . . . CHOMP!" When she witnesses a kiss between two smaller critters, she decides to mimic that as well, but she has just a wee bit of trouble controlling her actions, and ends up whomping, chomping, and stomping her intended kiss recipients. "This time, if I'm really, really careful and only use my lips . . . then, I can do it!" she vows, but she ends up mistakenly eating the next little guy ("'Whoops,' said Dinah. 'Not good'"). When another baby dino hatches, Dinah tries out her chomping, stomping, and whomping versions of kissing on it; the baby happily returns Dinah's physicality, stomp for stomp, and the two finally dissolve into giggles. Stein's pithy, amusing narration is adroitly coupled with his humorous illustrations; the pen and ink, watercolor, charcoal, and crayon illustrations are bold and childlike, with stocky, boxy earth-toned dinosaurs cavorting around with all the vigor—and sonorous exclamations—of a Batman fight scene. The large, blocky black font will visually carry the text to a crowd as well as to individuals; the short, simple, action-centered sentences will hold the attention of even the restless preschool crowd, who will also find the various situations hilarious, and doubtless (to the chagrin of nearby adults) want to imitate Dinah's moves. Pop this in a dino-themed storytime or enjoy on its own, but perhaps preface it with a reminder of the "no biting" rule.