If I Had a Triceratops

PreS-K—Dinosaurs and fantasies about a perfect pet are both topics loaded with kid appeal, and this picture book, which combines the two, is a real charmer. It is a companion to If I Had a Raptor (Candlewick, 2013) and follows a young boy who imagines life with an exuberant triceratops, who walks on a leash, plays fetch, and learns to sit up, roll over, and play dead. However, where O'Connor's raptor was an occasionally menacing, birdlike creature, his tongue-lolling, tail-wagging triceratops is positively cuddly, and kids will find themselves agreeing with the nameless narrator's assertion that all the work associated with owning a pet "will all be worth it when she runs out to greet me at the end of the day." Rendered with thick-lined pen strokes and bright watercolors, the illustrations have a cartoonlike feel that will invite peals of laughter from the younger set yet are artful, imbued with a sophistication that adults will appreciate: an unhappy looking dinosaur crammed into a tiny tub for a bath or attempting to cuddle up next to her owner at night. The accompanying text is appropriately understated, and pairing it with the over-the-top images makes for a hilarious combination. The young narrator veers into the quirky at times, too, letting the audience know that he would never let his pet chew on any large bones, both because of the risk of choking and because "they might belong to a relative of hers." Prehistoric pet ownership has never been more enchanting.—Mahnaz Dar, School Library Journal