Bigger Than You

Dinosaurs with skins of subtly graded hues inhabit a misty Mesozoic forest, giving the spreads of this story a mysterious, otherworldly atmosphere. By contrast, its demonstration of comparative weight and balance couldn’t be clearer. “Who wants to play with me?” asks a lilac-colored dimetrodon, who teeters on one end of a big log balanced on a rock. An orange dinosaur (a minmi, the dinosaur guide at the back of the book explains) mounts the other end, driving the dimetrodon up into the air. “I’m bigger than you,” the minmi says. Drama builds as larger and larger dinosaurs step onto alternate ends of the log, and to underscore the action, the type grows larger, too. Working in hanji (traditional Korean paper) and paint accented with watercolor, Kyung creates scenes in green and silvery gray—that is, until a fire-engine-red Tyrannosaurus rex shows up, and the emotional temperature rises (and the log takes some punishment). Dinosaurs, physical action, playful repetition, and things that grow bigger and bigger will grab the attention of even the wiggliest listeners. Ages 4–8. (July)