Dino-Gro

This crisp, tightly focused comedy by Myers (the Infamous Ratsos series) offers an adorably absorbant hero and well-timed laughs. Light-skinned Cole’s Dino-Gro is a tiny blue dinosaur of the variety that expands in water. Unlike others, though, this toy seeks out liquid, starting with Cole’s bedside water glass, and grows unceasingly. (“What happened to you?” asks Cole. “Wet,” Dino-Gro responds, wearing a shy-pleased grin.) And indeed the house is full of wet—the dog’s bowl, a flower vase, a sprinkler—and the dinosaur finds it all in a slow march toward mammoth proportions. Cole’s suburban parents (Dad has a sharp goatee and a solid side-eye; Mom is pregnant and serene) remonstrate, much to Cole’s distress. Fortunately, the wayward blue giant soon has a chance to redeem himself. The humor comes from contrasts between big and small—as with the petite hair dryer Cole uses in an attempt to dry Dino-Gro out. The outsize pet who saves the day is a potent fantasy, and Myers’s take on it underscores the way that the unexpected can be inconvenient but also offer valuable gifts. Ages 3–7. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (June)