Sunday, November 15, 2015

The Terrible Tales of the Teenytinysaurs!

The Terrible Tales of the Teenytinysaurs
Written and illustrated: Gary Northfield

Perhaps one of the craziest, zaniest, maddest books we've read in the recent past. And how we've loved it. It follows the adventures of a bunch of dinosaurs who bumble through prehistoric times and situations. The gang consists of Reggie, who is rather slow on the uptake; Ronnie, the weird daydreamer; witty, coolheaded Dave; nutty ball of energy, Thomas; and the feisty Natasha who more than keeps up with the guys.

Statutory warning: This book is not for the squeamish adult or the easily grossed out child. Boogers, snot, burping, this is full of all that is gross and loved by kids of a certain age, sometimes adults too. These little teenytinysaurs get into all sorts of scrapes and Northfield's fabulous art takes you on fantastical rides. They want to take a ride to the moon and talk a dino with a cold into letting them climb into his nostrils so that he can sneeze them out with this far flying snot, all the way to the moon. They have to climb into the stomach of one dino to rescue a baby dino he accidentally swallowed.

The double page spread of the insides of a dino digestive system goes far beyond gross into the fascinating as my kids ran their fingers along it, like a maze. Between Northfield's artwork and storytelling skills, it's tough to decide which is more brilliant. The attention to detail on each page is fantastic and you realise anew how wonderful it must be to translate your stories into not just words but also pictures, and how cohesive the end result is when it comes from the same brain. We're fans now and can't wait to pick up our next from his stable.

[Gary Northfield website]

[image source: amazon.com]

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