Dino-Football

August 13, 2012
The sporty dinosaurs that have played soccer, hockey, baseball, and basketball in previous outings take on football on “Mega Bowl Sunday.” With eager dinosaur fans in the stadium bleachers, the herbivorous Redscales battle the meat-eating Snackers in rhyming couplets, laced with game lingo: “T. rex is the quarterback./ He calls the play. The ball is snapped./ The Redscale linemen make a pocket./ T. rex fires like a rocket.” Gott’s high-energy cartoons place readers right in the football action, with dinosaur tackles, touchdowns, and a rousing halftime show. Ages 4–up.

August 1, 2012

PreS-Gr 2-It's Mega Bowl Sunday in the Lava Dome, and a crowd of excited dinosaurs are watching the Greenblade Snackers play against the Redscales. The rhyming running commentary contains the terminology and all the play-by-play excitement of a televised game. "Kentro gets the takeaway!/This Snacker rookie saved the day." After the "Dino Halftime Show," the score is close, but the last play allows small, young Mussaurus to score the winning touchdown. Gott's illustrations of the tackles are more humorous than brutal, and he draws examples of good sportsmanship on and off the field. A detailed scoreboard and color-coded naming system in the text (the dinos' names are in green or red depending on their team) make this game easy to follow.-Tanya Boudreau, Cold Lake Public Library, AB, Canada

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2013
On Mega Bowl Sunday, the plant-eating Greenblade Snackers and the carnivorous Redscales face off at the fan-thronged Lava Dome. Young football enthusiasts will recognize game lingo crammed into the sometimes choppy rhyming couplets. Dino names called out in red or green font help readers keep the players straight. The busy, boisterous illustrations are well suited to the frenetically paced text.

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)