Brontorina
Amazon Best Books of the Month, August 2010:  From Syd Hoff’sDanny and the Dinosaur(1958) to Jane Yolen’sHow Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight(2000),  very early readers have long befriended dinosaurs between the pages of a book.  The interaction of these enormous creatures rendered as lovable, comic characters has proven to be irresistible among the pre-K to Grade 1 set.  Therefore, it will come as no surprise when young readers fall hard for James Howe and Randy Cecil’s very funny and endearing new picture book,Brontorina, which stars Brontorina Apatosaurus, an enthusiastic  and surprisingly agile dino who is determined to become a ballerina. She arrives at the doorstep of Madame Lucille’s Dance Academy for Girls and Boys, exclaiming “I want to dance!”  Although Brontorina is certainly graceful, there are some concerns about her large size and her apparent inability to “fit in” among the smaller dancers, let alone in a pair of ballet slippers, the studio, or the arms of her male partner.  With warmth and humor, Madame Lucille and her young students discover that if they step outside the (rosin) box, solutions may be found to some of the biggest problems imaginable.--Lauren Nemroff