If Dinosaurs Had Hair

Marvin imagines a fashionable world of prehistoric vanity in this commercial exploration of the outlandish titular concept. “Why, if dinosaurs had hair, they must have had parents who brushed it too hard. And siblings who pulled it. And snarls,” opens the book, further noting that with locks come “hairstyles,” “hair products,” and “drama.” The latter is in fact so acute it results in “hair warfare” that pits styles and species against one another. As the tension rises, speech bubbles throughout play for salon-gossip laughs unlikely to resonate with the intended age range. Vamos’s digital renderings vividly accompany, featuring multi-colored sauropods, cerapods, and the like sporting a range of boldly dyed styles: “From bowl cuts to brush cuts/ to bouffants and braids.” An explosive conclusion foregrounds Marvin’s punning with a potentially disconcerting cosmic payoff. Ages 3–6. (Oct.)