Paul and Henrietta Strickland’s 1994 picture book Dinosaur Roar! is now over 30 years old, but you would know by looking at it (unless you’re a dinosaur expert).
This book is built around four things: simple rhymes, bright colors, contrasts, and, of course, dinosaurs.
All of these fit together smoothly. For example, the first two pages of the actual text read “Dinosaur roar,/dinosaur squeak,” with just two words per page. The next two read “dinosaur fierce,/ dinosaur meek,” ending the rhyme squeak/meek, with the sentence tumbling on. The first two pages show a huge orange dinosaur (unlabeled, but looking like a T rex) scaring a much smaller green and yellow dinosaur.
So, each two-page spread features at least two dinosaurs (sometimes more), of different kinds and colors. Each page describes the dinosaurs in contrasting ways (above/below, weak/strong, etc.). The second and fourth pages in each progression rhyme.
And if I haven’t said it before, the images are great fun. The dinosaur bodies bend and twist. They fill pages, sprawl on each other, and interact. There’s some humor, as dinosaurs chase–or drip on–each other.
The later pages have a few more words: it is like the book builds up momentum to carry readers through the final burst.
The dinosaurs aren’t labeled–the one weakness I see for those who want to use this book for educational purposes–but many of the classic ancient beasts are here and recognizable, like the Triceratops. Some artistic liberty is taken at times: I’m not sure formal recreation of the dinosaurs ever included such goofy teeth as some of these have.
The book does include creatures that I grew up thinking were dinosaurs, like the Dimetrodon, that are now more broadly recognized as not being dinosaurs. My copy of the book does include a note at the end noting that “dinosaur science” has changed a lot in the 30 years since the book has been published, and pointing readers to the Smithsonian (or other natural history museums) for more current information.
