BOOK REVIEW: Stegothesaurus by Bridget Theos, Illustrated by T. L. McBeth

TITLE: STEGOTHESAURUS
AUTHOR: Bridget Heos
ILLUSTRATED BY: T. L. McBeth
PUBLISHED: Henry Holt


JACKET FLAP: Once upon a time there were three dinosaurs. A stegosaurus. Another stegosaurus and a stegothesaurus.

Hello! Greetings! Salutations!

He was a little different from his brothers.

SPOILER ALERT: These notes give away the plot of the story.

NOTES: The pleasing rhythm of three beats can be seen here, in the three dinosaurs, the three words in which Stegothesaurus expresses himself, the way that the three each weigh in on what they see/feel, the three things they encounter (clouds, heat, allosaurus), the three attempts Stegothesaurus makes to describe the Allosaurus, the three groups of words they say/share when they spend the day together, and then Stegothesaurus' response to finding out how the Allothesaurus got so smart also had three beats, with three words in each of the first two beats. The text of run, ran, ran might also be considered three beats. And the following three spreads depict three dinosaurs again.  Finally, the resolution features the three each weighing in on their personal suggestions, with Stegothesaurus using three words in his and then the Stegosaurus citing three words for the end of his tale, with the author crossing them out and writing THE END.

I used this as a comp title for one of my dinosaur books, and found it to be interesting. Being a structure girl, I enjoyed the structure, but yet at times felt it was perhaps a bit over much. And while I really did like the subversive twist, I didn't feel the level of character change I might have liked to see. Still, I do think that the premise is extremely clever (hmmm...) and a good book and worth reading and rereading, which is the point.

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Lynne Marie is the author of Hedgehog Goes to Kindergarten - illustrated by Anne Kennedy (Scholastic, 2011), Hedgehog's 100th Day of School – illustrated by Lorna Hussey (Scholastic, January 2017), The Star of the Christmas Play -- illustrated by Lorna Hussey (Beaming Books, 2018), Moldilocks and the 3 Scares -- illustrated by David Rodriguez Lorenzo (Sterling, pending) and Let's Eat! Mealtimes Around the World -- illustrated by Parwinder Singh (Beaming Books, 2019). You can learn more about her at www.LiterallyLynneMarie.com. 

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