My Amazing Dinosaur

Following 2013’s Welcome to the Tribe!, this second book in the Tib & Tumtum series, starring a diminutive cave boy named Tib and his dinosaur, Tumtum, settles into a satisfying rhythm of mostly one-page gags that would fit right in on the funny pages. Because of a birthmark on his face, Tib is the tribe pariah who spends most of his time rollicking in the woods with his saurian companion, scheming ways to fit in with the other kids. Despite his best efforts, Tib can’t catch a break, and he ends up flubbing every opportunity that comes his way, whether it’s by trying to cover his birthmark with mud or falling flat on his face during a footrace. Even in prehistory, it seems, kids can be cruel. Fortunately, Tumtum is always there to catch his friend when he falls (literally, in one instance). Collaborators Bannister (a pseudonym for French comics creator Nicolas Seigneret) and Grimaldi excel at spinning silly and sincere anecdotes in precise, almost sculptural contours that give the strips an inviting dimensionality. Ages 7–11. (May)