I'm a Dirty Dinosaur

by Janeen Brian, Ann James (Illustrator)

Overview

A cheeky little dinosaur with a dirty snout sniffs and snuffs, shakes and taps, stamps and splashes and slides about getting dirtier and dirtier until finally he end up … having a wash in this celebration of messiness and mud!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781610672962
Publisher:	Kane Miller
Publication date:	06/01/2014
Pages:	22
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

Editorial Reviews

08/04/2014
A buoyant dinosaur revels in the mud in this paper-over-board story, first published in Australia. Brian’s repeating rhymes take on the cadence of a song— almost like a mud-themed version of the “Hokey Pokey”—as the raptorlike dinosaur becomes increasingly muddy. James outlines the dinosaur in loose, sketchlike lines, turning its white body into a canvas for the mud it collects (the artist uses actual mud to create the spatters and puddles that fill the pages). The virtually monochromatic brown-and-white pictures and simple black lettering are offset by the large all-caps font in bright crayon-box colors that underscores the dinosaur’s actions like a refrain: “I’m a dirty dinosaur with a dirty tum./ I splatter it with mud and I tap it like a drum./ Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap,/ Tap it like a drum.” Brian’s narrative lends itself to reading aloud, and it invites both chiming in and imitating the dinosaur’s movements (preferably sans mud). Better still, the sturdy pages are sufficiently coated for easy wiping off if muddy fingers do happen to turn them. Ages 2–5. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"…cries out for toddler participation, with parts for everyone.… It is nearly impossible to look at without reading aloud, chanting aloud and even tapping and stamping and sliding: extreme joyousness." — Kirkus Reviews, STARRED


"Brian's narrative lends itself to reading aloud, and it invites both chiming in and imitating the dinosaur's movements (preferably sans mud). Better still, the sturdy pages are sufficiently coated for easy wiping off if muddy fingers do happen to turn them." — Publishers Weekly


"This book will entertain kids in storytime as well as young independent readers. A solid general purchase for most libraries." — School Library Journal

From the Publisher

09/01/2014
PreS-Gr 2—In a book that has mud as one of the creative mediums, it's a given that the dinosaur is dirty. The prehistoric protagonist is drawn with magic pencil (which creates a thin rainbow-hued line) and minimal detail. Slowly, through onomatopoetic, brightly colored, rhyming text, he begins to color himself in with mud. "I'm a dirty dinosaur with a dirty tum./I splatter it with mud and I tap it like a drum./Tap, Tap,/Tap, Tap,/Tap it like a drum!" The watercolor scenery adds to the cute factor of the story, which spreads across extra thick white pages. Eventually, a swamp affords the dino the perfect place for a wash. This book will entertain kids in storytime as well as young independent readers. A solid general purchase for most libraries.—Nancy Jo Lambert, McSpedden Elementary Frisco, TX

School Library Journal

★ 2014-07-16
This Australian import cries out for toddler participation, with parts for everyone. The little dinosaur—an outline sketch of a creature drawn with multicolored pencil—rejoices in total mudlusciousness with a vigorous chant. "I'm a dirty dinosaur / with a dirty face. // I never have a wash / I just shake about the place." The winsome background to the dinosaur's antics is painted with watercolor and smeared and splattered with actual mud. Opposite, in bold print with each letter a different color, is the refrain: "SHAKE, SHAKE, / SHAKE, SHAKE, / SHAKE ABOUT / THE PLACE!" The dinosaur goes on to mention a "dirty tum," which it taps like a drum: "TAP, TAP," etc. There is also stamping about the street with dirty feet and sliding that dirty tail "like a snail." At the end, in deep realization of its yuckiness, the dinosaur decides to go to the swamp and "GIVE MYSELF A WASH!" Birds, flowers, dragonflies and a frog or two accompany the protagonist, who walks (dances, really) on two legs and sports little stegosauruslike spine plates and a belly button. It is nearly impossible to look at without reading aloud, chanting aloud, and even tapping and stamping and sliding: extreme joyousness. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews