Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A guide to better behavior—at home, on the playground, in class, and in the library. Serving as a sort of overview for the series’ 12 previous exercises in behavior modeling, this latest outing opens with a set of badly behaving dinos, identified in an endpaper key and also inconspicuously in situ. Per series formula, these are paired to leading questions like “Does she spit out her broccoli onto the floor? / Does he shout ‘I hate meat loaf!’ while slamming the door?” (Choruses of “NO!” from young audiences are welcome.) Midway through, the tone changes (“No, dinosaurs don’t”), and good examples follow to the tune of positive declarative sentences: “They wipe up the tables and vacuum the floors. / They share all the books and they never slam doors,” etc. Teague’s customary, humongous prehistoric crew, all depicted in exact detail and with wildly flashy coloration, fill both their spreads and their human-scale scenes as their human parents—no same-sex couples but some are racially mixed, and in one the man’s the cook—join a similarly diverse set of sibs and other children in either disapprobation or approving smiles. All in all, it’s a well-tested mix of oblique and prescriptive approaches to proper behavior as well as a lighthearted way to play up the use of “please,” “thank you,” and even “I’ll help when you’re hurt.” Formulaic but not stale…even if it does mine previous topical material rather than expand it. (Picture book. 6-8) Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A guide to better behaviorat home, on the playground, in class, and in the library.Serving as a sort of overview for the series 12 previous exercises in behavior modeling, this latest outing opens with a set of badly behaving dinos, identified in an endpaper key and also inconspicuously in situ. Per series formula, these are paired to leading questions like Does she spit out her broccoli onto the floor? / Does he shout I hate meat loaf! while slamming the door? (Choruses of NO! from young audiences are welcome.) Midway through, the tone changes (No, dinosaurs dont), and good examples follow to the tune of positive declarative sentences: They wipe up the tables and vacuum the floors. / They share all the books and they never slam doors, etc. Teagues customary, humongous prehistoric crew, all depicted in exact detail and with wildly flashy coloration, fill both their spreads and their human-scale scenes as their human parentsno same-sex couples but some are racially mixed, and in one the mans the cookjoin a similarly diverse set of sibs and other children in either disapprobation or approving smiles. All in all, its a well-tested mix of oblique and prescriptive approaches to proper behavior as well as a lighthearted way to play up the use of please, thank you, and even Ill help when youre hurt.Formulaic but not staleeven if it does mine previous topical material rather than expand it. (Picture book. 6-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.