The T-Rex Who Lost His Specs!

"Willis relies on the popularity of dinosaurs and comedy to buoy up her rhymes in this amusing offering that addresses the need for glasses. T-Rex has lost his 'specs' and everything is blurry, resulting in a variety of ridiculous mistakes, ranging from washing his face in the toilet, to mistaking a pterosaur for a kite and cooking up a sock and slippers for dinner. Ultimately, his friends help him find his glasses, only to have him lose them again, and hug the wrong mother. The text is written in short rhyming lines, which move along briskly, despite the occasional awkward phrasing or scansion. Ross's trademark comic illustrations are in full force. His toothy predator has a remarkably expressive face, and he capitalizes on the humor of the text, neatly extending it with clever, page-turn reveals for many of the punch lines. VERDICT While not a necessary purchase, libraries in search of more books about wearing glasses, humor, or dinosaurs will find this a pleasant addition, suitable for one-on-one and group sharing."--School Library Journal

"Written in a jaunty rhyme, this follows the perils that befall young T-Rex when he loses his glasses. He starts seeing double, and his vision is so blurred that he accidentally dons the wrong clothes: his sister's heart-covered undies and his granny's vest. He scrubs down in the toilet rather than the sink. Embarrassment turns to danger when he mistakes a pterosaur for his kite, a brontosaurus for a hill, and a large, menacing dinosaur for his mother. Despite the seeming danger, this is lighthearted and totally silly, and will elicit a good amount of laughter. The short text makes it a natural for a quick read-aloud, and the large format features clear and uncluttered illustrations in a cartoon style, cleverly depicting the action as T-Rex moves from one mishap to another. Although his glasses are (briefly) returned, T-Rex can't seem to hold onto them--if he escapes his cliff-hanger ending, we may be treated to more misadventures."--Booklist

"A nearsighted T. Rex stumbles into a chain of calamities after losing his eyeglasses. Mr. Magoo has nothing on this poor dino: 'He went to give himself a wash, / but could not find the basin... // ...and so the toilet was the place / that T-Rex washed his face in.' He also dons his sister's undies and mistakes Grandpa's slippers for his breakfast kippers. Diverse misadventures later he manages to lose the spectacles for good in his lunch--either eating them (according to the text) or obliviously chucking them away with the bones (in the picture). Ross reinforces the haplessness of his ungainly unfortunate by dressing him in saggy blue trousers, and he has the dino react to each blunder with squinty imperturbability...until, that is, the T. Rex runs to hug what he thinks is his own mom and turns out to be clutching the leg of a much bigger, toothier, more predatory parent. Whoopsie. Well, readers familiar with Willis and Ross' more naturalistic little fables, such as Tadpole's Promise (2005), won't be surprised. A comic episode with a bit of a bite (implied, not explicit) at the end. (Picture book. 6-8)"--Kirkus Reviews

Two fine new picture book offerings from this press are highly recommended picks for picture book readers looking for different entertainment. Young dinosaur lovers will relish Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross's The T-Rex Who Lost His Specs! (9781541514560, $17.99), a fun story of a poor blind dinosaur who "can't tell toast from toasted slippers or a towel from an owl" without them. As he looks, his friends help in this fun, rollicking rhyme of discovery. Tony Ross also writes I Want My Dad! (9781541514539, $17.99), which joins others in his Little Princess series about a girl who is proud of her father, the King, who is better than all other dads...for the most part. As her father's faults grow, his little princess learns a lesson in love in this fun story of a stubborn little girl's love for her father.